KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 20 — For those Malaysians who celebrate, Christmas this year is turning out to be a far more expensive affair than anticipated as prices soar for even the most basic of essential goods.
The silver lining, however, is the return to normalcy, which means being able to organise and attend festive gatherings with family and friends once more.
How then will Christmas be celebrated, with many seeking to strike a balance between forking out more for essential items and ensuring celebrations remain meaningful?
Malay Mail spoke to several families and business owners to see how they have improvised this Christmas.
Chicken instead of turkey
There will not be any turkey at Debby Pereira’s household this year as prices are prohibitive.
Before the Covid-19 pandemic hit the country, Debby said the Christmas staple was still available for about RM300 per cooked bird.
“Now for raw turkey, it’s about close to RM300. But what gave me a shock was cooked turkey. It’s now about RM500, and that’s not the most expensive; the price gets higher.
“For that, we’ve decided to go for chicken this Christmas. We’re having a sort of reunion and the food isn’t the star. What matters is that we get to gather and have a good catch-up.
“It will be the first time since Covid-19 hit us that we’ve been able to gather for Christmas now that travelling is allowed,” she told Malay Mail when contacted.
Home-baked presents
As for Sue Tan, she’s attempting to bake her Christmas gifts instead of buying presents from the store.
“It doesn’t make sense anymore with the prices that are out there. Christmas is a season of gifting. But if I end up broke after buying presents, how am I going to celebrate Christmas then?
“So, it’ll be cookies and cakes for all my friends, that I can afford, and still put a smile on their faces,” said Tan.
For Laura Cutter at Cutter Cakes, despite the soaring price of raw ingredients, the Christmas atmosphere for her bakery is livelier this year.
“It’s great to see some normalcy coming back and to see people returning to buy our Christmas cakes and cookies mostly as giveaways for small gathering with friends and family.
“But to be honest, we had to absorb some of the raw material cost due to inflation because we do not want to compromise on quality, and so we continue to commit ourselves to using the finest ingredients.
“Our Christmas cookie box, for example, is currently the same price as last year’s,” she said when contacted.
Targeted spending
At Lilin+Co, co-founder Julie Yim said their store is experiencing a low volume in sales compared to the previous Christmas.
Yim said it could be likely due to many Malaysians travelling abroad this year.
“People are also opting to spend on lower value items in our store and website. Definitely more effort required from our side to push Christmas sales,” said Yim, adding that there is an approximately 40 to 50 per cent sales drop compared to this time last year.
“We did a price adjustment earlier this year in February, so yes, we already anticipated the lower volume.
“For next year, although we are for B2C (business-to-customer), we do have B2B (business-to-business) customers who customise bulk orders as well so that keeps us afloat.
“It’s a good balance for us so far, as we don’t rely solely on just B2C who are affected by price increases,” she said when contacted.
Sustainable Christmas
As for Sunway Malls, they will not be any cutting back on the essentials, such as services, security, convenience, rewards, facilities and amenities.
“However, the pursuit of a sustainability agenda has always been in Sunway’s DNA, and we are increasing our savings through these initiatives.
“For example, 30 per cent of our Christmas decorations are from recycled materials to reduce carbon footprint and costs,” said Mall and Theme Parks chief executive officer HC Chan when contacted.
Expressing relief, Chan said shopper traffic at all Sunway malls had definitely improved compared to 2021 and already seen a 100 per cent return to pre-pandemic levels.
“We expect that to go up another 10 to 15 per cent once the year-end festivities, school holidays and in-bound travel begin.
“We are forecasting a strong year-end as we head into festivities and expect to finish 2022 with an overall 12 per cent higher sales turnover compared to pre-pandemic 2019, which was historically a high trading year for Sunway Malls.
“With the preceding last three quarters of 2022 registering equally higher sales turnover, we are confident the momentum will continue strongly,” he said.
According to Chan, there is an umbrella Christmas sales campaign rolled out across all seven Sunway malls.
“Year-end and festive shopping remain traditionally the strongest months for retail sales and campaigns like our Christmas currently implemented across our malls is intended to spur up retail spending with deals, promotions and bargains.
“With the early Chinese New Year celebration next year, we expect shopping to continue till end of December to sustain the retail spending momentum,” he said.
Chan added that Sunway Malls retailers are also keen to capitalise on the strongest retail months at year-end with attractive sales promotion as this can be singularly the most vibrant festive sales session after the pandemic of the last two years.
Ready for Christmas
In terms of restaurants, the Christmas mood has actually returned and is better this year, staff at Natalina Italian Kitchen said.
“Prices increase so much higher, but we’re thankful that our regulars are still coming to support us.
“We’ve also done some adjustment in terms of our menu, working around more affordable ingredients to ensure that our food prices can be maintained and not compromise taste and quantity as well.
“So for our regulars, they will notice that there will be a change in the menu for certain dishes,” the staff who wanted to remain anonymous said.
The staff also added that bookings for Christmas had been positive.
“So far, it’s been good, even though we know that everything is so expensive now.
“Maybe bookings might not be full, but the positive response for bookings is good, especially with everyone cutting back on spending,” the staff said.
At A Li Yaa, a restaurant that specialises in Sri Lankan cuisine, it’s marketing department similarly said response for Christmas bookings has been encouraging.
“We might have fewer locals dining in due to price hikes, but in exchange, we have been receiving tourists who appreciate Sri Lankan food.
“For Christmas, we have a menu tailored for the occasion, and so far, we’ve gotten good responses for that.
“Although we just did a price adjustment last month, things have been status quo so far and that’s good,” said the restaurant’s representative, Janaka.
He added that they were also thankful that the restaurant was awarded a Bib Gourmand distinction (Inspectors’ Favourites for Quality Cooking at Moderate Prices) by the Michelin Guide Kuala Lumpur and Penang, as this recognition has also boosted the restaurant’s popularity and attracted new diners.
