About 800 trade facilities in the Vitebsk region will extend their operating hours during the New Year holidays
About 800 trade facilities in the Vitebsk region will extend their operating hours during the New Year holidays, the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee's Department of Trade and Services informed a BELTA correspondent.
By the beginning of the first winter month, all retail outlets in the region had taken care to create a festive mood by decorating their windows and sales floors. Starting December 1, the season of pre-New Year fairs and sales of goods at reduced prices began, with the participation of trade, industrial, public catering, and service enterprises. Also, throughout the month, 230 promotional events with gifts and souvenirs are planned, and 200 fairs for the sale of food and non-food products will be held in cities and district centers. To improve the efficiency of operations and customer service, 800 trade enterprises and 230 public catering facilities, including cafes and restaurants, will extend their operating hours for the holiday period.
Customers will be pleasantly surprised by the variety of the New Year's assortment. In order to maximally satisfy consumer demand, stocks of key New Year's items – champagne, confectionery, gift sets – were made in advance.
Currently, stores offer more than 10 types of New Year's gifts and a wide range of confectionery products, which will be replenished with items featuring New Year's themes from the RUPP "Vitebskhlebprom" enterprises just before the holidays. The variety of sections with Christmas tree decorations, carnival costumes, artificial Christmas trees, souvenirs, and other New Year's products is pleasing to the eye.
Many retail businesses have supported charity events in recent days. For example, in the regional center, the "Evikom" shopping complex, the new indoor pavilion of the Smolensk market, and the "Evroopt" store on Moskovsky Avenue joined the "New Year's Tree of Wishes" campaign, organized for 70 pupils of the Vitebsk Children's Home by the October District Organization (Vitebsk) of the Belarusian Red Cross Society. Instead of toys, the trees installed in these shopping centers display children's photographs with inscriptions about their desired gifts. Any visitor can help fulfill a child's dream or donate part of their finances for this purpose. The collected funds will be used to purchase gifts, which will be handed over to the children's home pupils by volunteers and representatives of the retail outlets on the eve of the New Year.