The head of a local shipping service has high hopes for the Christmas shopping season.

Bricen Hakeman, the chief executive of Mailboxes Unlimited, said the company had its “best ever” Black Friday this year.

He attributed the increased business to stores offering deals throughout all of November to clear up three years of backlog caused by Covid.

Mr Hakeman added: “We feel this month and next are going to be very strong for retail and have ramped up our staff for the holiday season.”

Local retailers were also pleased with the quantity of Black Friday shopping.

Leanne Barnes, the manager at Marks and Spencer, said Black Friday activity was “better than last year” and George Grundmuller, the president and chief executive of The Phoenix Stores, said business went “extremely well”.

The Bermuda Economic Development Corporation urged people to take advantage of Cyber Monday discounts.

Kelsea Williams, the communications and development officer for BEDC, could not say how many businesses would be offering deals for Cyber Monday, but said they were successful in the past.

She explained: “This year, we’ve taken a different approach but in the past we have asked businesses to send us what deals they have.

“There is often commentary about shopping online from overseas but we always want to promote that there are businesses here that you can shop online from.

“People take advantage of it but it comes down to whether or not they know those deals are available.”

The BEDC said that in addition to shopping at local stores online, residents could write a positive business review or share their favourite deal via social media.