Edmontonians feeling the pinch when it comes to holiday shopping

With Christmas and the holiday season approaching, some Edmontonians CityNews spoke with say rising costs have impacted their spending habits, finding it hard to keep their everyday bills covered.

“It’s gonna be pretty minimal Christmas this year,” said Emily Barnes, an Edmonton shopper.

Aaron Sasvari, another Edmonton shopper, said, “The amount of gifts are the same, it’s just now I’m getting them second hand instead of new.”

An Edmontonian said this year he’s looking on places like Facebook Marketplace to find an affordable gift for his girlfriend.

“A lot of the stuff I bought is second-hand. It hasn’t, but it has crossed my mind to downgrade my meals in order to get her something nicer,” said Sasvari.

Sasvari is one of many Canadians who are feeling the same. A new study by Money Mart and Angus Reid says the majority of the 1,511 Canadians they polled said inflation will impact their holiday spending this year.

Alberta recorded the highest across Canada with 83 per cent. 61 per cent of Albertans also say they anticipate cutting back compared to last year, especially on gifts.

“Alberta is a pretty young province, and I think that’s why relative to the rest. We’re seeing that there’s little more stress in alberta than the rest of Canada,” explained Peter Kalen, the CEO of Money Mart.

One flower and gift shop owner is also seeing less traffic this year. He said this November has been slower than last year.

“We’re finding it it’s a little bit lower than usual. It wasn’t as let’s say quite in terms of foot traffic as it was this year,” said John MacKell, the owner of Laurel’s on Whyte Ave.

According to the Money Mart study, the cost of living and tariffs are what’s impacting how Canadians shop this holiday season.

“Inflation was the major driver. Tariffs for sure are factor. And while inflation come down, we’ve been through five years of you know mid to high single digit inflation,” said Kalen.

Sasvari says, “I buy a jug of milk for six bucks, so that’s money that I can’t really get back, but at the same time, what am I gonna do, not cereal for breakfast?”

While Barnes said, “With the prices of things going up like groceries, especially, it does take away. So, like usually I would host like a big dinner, and it’s gonna be maybe less people this year, and that will take away from many presents or anything like that.”