Record numbers hit the high street to take advantage of early sales

Updated
Record numbers hit the high street to take advantage or early sales
Record numbers hit the high street to take advantage or early sales

PA


High street stores did brisk business yesterday as shoppers finally headed out to do their Christmas shopping and take advantage of hefty discounts and promotions.

Traders in London's Oxford Street and Regent Street said they believed they would make £180million in sales yesterday as streets were pedestrianised to attract an estimated one million shoppers.

Queues had formed outside shops including John Lewis and Selfridges before they opened for business and stores including Marks & Spencer and French Connection were offering discounts of up to 50 per cent.

Capital Shopping Centres (CSC), which operates 14 malls including the Trafford Centre in Manchester, Lakeside in Thurrock and St David's in Cardiff said that record numbers of shoppers had taken advantage of discounts.

Shoppers at Braehead, one of Scotland's biggest shopping centres, also queued up before the shops opened.

A spokesman for Meadowhall in Sheffied, South Yorkshire, said that sales at the centre had started earlier than they would normally.

He said: "I think it's a UK-wide phenomenon. But certainly that's what we're seeing in the centre."

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