ith just three weeks left before Christmas, Hamilton retailers are optimistic about the retail season. They also say the Buy Bermuda campaign is having a positive impact on the cash register.

Peter Cooper, owner of A.S. Coopers, says that this November?s sales were marginally better than last year and he is ?hoping for a good season?.

?I?m optimistic that we?ll get it,? he said.

Mr. Cooper like the other retailers who spoke to points to the increase in sales as a sign that the Buy Bermuda campaign is working. The Chamber of Commerce launched the campaign in 2001 to promote ?the various reasons for buying in Bermuda?.

Carol Bromby, co-owner and general manager of Toys ?N? Stuff, says the campaign has certainly had an impact at her store?s cash registers.

She said: ?Many of the larger companies which have Christmas parties would have gone away in the past and bought all the gifts overseas. In recent years they have supported the Buy Bermuda campaign and supported us and shopped here so generally people are trying to buy here when they can.?

She is optimistic about the coming Christmas season and estimates her sales for November are up five percent over last year.

?We?re happy with that as long as it is not going down. We do lose considerable business to Internet these days and overseas shopping so we?re happy to see an increase of any kind.?

Toys ?N? Stuff also had a one-day storewide sale last month, timed just ahead of the American Thanksgiving weekend in a bid to get people to Buy Bermuda.

?Obviously people want to go away and should go away but we want to try and get people to shop here beforehand.?

Trimingham?s/Smiths has also been using sales to entice shoppers into the department store?s doors.

Lawrence Trimingham, president of the store and head of the retail division of the Chamber of Commerce, said of the sales: ?If you were to go back and look at least five years ago we were promotional before Christmas and retailing is always changing.?

Although he has no hard data, Mr. Trimingham said that chamber members are getting a feeling things are going pretty well this season.

?Even though it is still early days it seems like there is quite a bit of excitement out there. The few people I have talked to said they are having a better year than last year.?

As for his stores, Mr. Trimingham says it is difficult to compare this year over previous ones due to the amalgamation with Smith?s.

?Christmas is in the air, people are shopping and it seems like more people may be shopping in Bermuda here than last year.?

He too agrees that Buy Bermuda has had a positive impact.

?People think about how shopping here effects not just retailers, but everybody. It impacts the whole economy,? he said.

?As long as people are travelling they are going to take that opportunity to shop.

?That is always going to be the way but I also think that the Bermuda public understands and supports the idea of shopping in Bermuda to a great extent.?