Jul 05, 2010 11:34 ET
TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - July 5, 2010) - Spending was down across retail, restaurants and travel and entertainment categories in Toronto during the recent G-20 Summit, according to data released today by Moneris Solutions, Canada's largest debit and credit card processor.Moneris compiled same-store credit retail spending data from June 25-27, 2010 and compared them to retail spending figures from the previous weekend, June 18-20, 2010. The data was focused on three main areas:
- The security perimeter – postal codes that were within the security zones during the Summit;
- The downtown core – postal codes that were just outside the security zones during the Summit and,
- The City of Toronto – all merchants with a 'Toronto,' city demographic
Moneris reported decreases of 28.08% and 40.87%, in dollar volume for retail sales and total number of retail transactions in the security perimeter, respectively. Restaurants; the largest category in travel and entertainment, saw a decrease of 66.59% in their volume and a 56.22% dip in their transactions.
With many employers suggesting their staff work from home during the summit, retail sales in the surrounding downtown core saw dollar volume decreases of 10.78% and decreases in the total number of retail transactions of 16.43%. This trend continued to usually busy restaurateurs who saw decreases of 32.70% in their volume and 25.33% in their transactions.
The effect was far reaching with the entire City of Toronto recording a retail sales decline of 9.31% in volume and a decrease in transactions of 14.96%.
About Moneris Solutions
As one of North America's largest providers of payment processing solutions, Moneris offers credit, debit, wireless and online payment services for merchants in virtually every industry segment and processes more than three billion transactions annually. Through its Ernex division, Moneris offers electronic loyalty and stored-value gift card programs. With more than 350,000 merchant locations, Moneris provides the hardware, software and systems needed to improve business efficiency and manage payments. For more information please visitwww.moneris.com.
For more information, please contact
Media Contact:MAVERICK Public Relations Inc.
Daniel Weinerman
416-640-5525, ext. 245
danielw@maverickpr.com
