Despite some people tightening their purse strings for some ‘luxury’ items, that wasn’t the case in the lead up to Easter this year. Consumers spent eight per cent more at their local bakeries compared with last years numbers.

Westpac’s DataX program revealed that Aussies spent eight per cent more at their local bakeries in January and February this year in the lead up to the Easter season. Despite rising rents, mortgages and supermarket costs, Westpac’s managing director of business lending Shane Howell said when speaking to News.com.au it made sense that people were spending more on relatively inexpensive items.

“It’s one of life’s little luxuries and treating yourself with a pie or a pastry feels good while remaining relatively inexpensive compared to a restaurant meal,” he said.

“While inflation is contributing to the overall eight per cent increase in bakery spend, our data shows there has been an increase in consumption across other metrics too.”

The number of visitors to bakeries was up 4.3 per cent over the same period with customers also spending more per transaction—up 1.8 percent.

With these results businesses are feeling hopeful for the year to come with the positive increase in Aussie’s turning to independent bakeries for their baked goods.