From a red Santa hat that costs only 10 yuan (US$1.2) to a Christmas tree worth up to hundreds, more Shenzheners are buying Christmas decorations to grace their homes for the imported festival.

A random survey carried out Thursday by the Shenzhen Daily in five stores in Dongmen revealed that there has been a 15-20 percent increase in retail sales of Christmas decorations over last year.

Bai Junzhi, a customer who was selecting Christmas items at a Dongmen store, said she would spend about 300 yuan to buy hats and trees for her son.

Zhang Chunsheng, owner of the Beautiful Garden Flower Store at Dongmen, said: ¡°People are spending more on the festival. Popular items are Santa hats, shiny light balls, and small Christmas trees. There are also women in their thirties buying large trees worth up to 300-800 yuan.¡±

However, Zhang said he was losing business to the Sungang Toys Market, since customers, especially the purchase departments of hotels and department stores, went there to buy Christmas-related goods. His business has also been affected after some hotels cut their budgets by half, and decided to reuse many items bought last year.

¡°I learned some new hotels spent about 400,000 yuan (US$48,190). It would be lucky if some one can net the fortune,¡± Zhang said.

Shenzhen is expected to spend about US$ 140 million to decorate for Christmas, which is 15 percent more than the amount last year, according to statistics from Shenzhen Toys Association. ¡°An increasing number of local companies, including department stores, hotels, recreational venues and trade companies, have increased expenses on Xmas decors,¡± said Tang Tao, assistant to the toys association¡¯s secretary general Thursday.

Editor: Yan