In Limeraick as elsewhere it seems that shoppers are defying the economic downturn and bucking the up to now disappointing retail sales figures.

The city centre shops and shopping centres like the Crescent and the Parkway, have seen the numbers of shoppers exceed expectations with just 10 full shopping days remaining before Christmas.

Despite days of rain umbrella wielding shoppers still packed Limerick's O'Connell Street over the weekend.

This unexpected upturn has brought much needed relief across the retail sector that many customers had simply left their Christmas shopping late this year.

Retailers say that it's been a nervous lead up to Christmas because conditions have been so gloomy for so long and the sales figures from the last two months have shown sales down.

It looks like shoppers have saved the day by turning out in "big numbers" and this 'retail therapy' could be partly an "antidote to all the doom and gloom". After a tough year, retailers are working hard to attract shoppers over Christmas with generous sales and promotions.

But it's not only the brick and mortar businesses that are benefiting from this sudden upsurge. Online merchants have also seen their turnover hit the high spot with shoppers flooding online to buy their christmas gifts.

According to Deloitte's annual Christmas shopping report, published recently, the vast majority of Irish adults will use the web in the run-up to Christmas, although just under a third of those polled will spend money online, with most using it for research purposes.

Some of the web's biggest, best and best-value sites like Amazon offer tremendous value when it comes to books, CDs and DVDs, toys, games and the sites routinely offer Irish shoppers savings of over 20 per cent even when expensive delivery charges are factored in.

Some of the top christmas toys on Amazon are: Baby Born, Elmo Live, Bakugan and High School Musical to name but a few.

While the benefits of shopping online are great: you can save time, money and see a whole range of products all at the click of a button, there's also another unexpected benefit in that you actually have more rights than the traditional shopper. Online retailers must offer a seven-working-day cooling-off period, during which you can return the goods for whatever reason and be reimbursed the total cost, including postage or delivery charges, although you do have to pay the return postage.