THOUSANDS of bargain hunters braved the sleet and cold yesterday as sales fever gripped Bolton.

About 350 eager shoppers were waiting outside the Market Place at 7am when retailers opened the doors for busiest day of the year.

Most had been lured by the Next sale which started a day later than other shops in the Market Place because bosses feared restricted Sunday opening hours could lead to large crushes.

They tried to avoid a dangerous scrum by spreading the first day of the popular half-price sale over longer opening hours on Monday.

Town centre retailers said Sunday had been far busier than expected and the story was repeated on Monday with heavy traffic on all the main routes into Bolton.

Shortly after 10am, all 700 car parking spaces at the Market Place were full and shoppers queued outside the building for discount goods at their favourite shops.

Retailers are hoping the booming seasonal sales will help make up for a pre-Christmas lull when cautious consumers kept their spending in check amid fears of a depression around the corner.

Spend

Market Place operations manager Deborah Singleton said: "The pre-Christmas period was not what the retailers wanted at all.

"It was not just in Bolton, it was a national thing. Confidence was low and people were reluctant to spend. But the sales have been extremely busy - people must have been holding back and hanging onto their money for the bargains."

Marks and Spencer manager Brian Lunn said shoppers were spending more money than retailers dared hope and about 300 were waiting outside the Deansgate store on the first day of the sale on Sunday. Monday was also busy.

He said: "It was astonishing and better than we expected considering the level of pre-Christmas spending.

"The two or three months leading up to Christmas were very flat and you can never really make up for that but it does seem that customers have been waiting to spend their money."

Bosses at The Gates shopping centre also reported a busy day but denied they had suffered a disappointing run up to Christmas.

Vouchers

Operations manager Fred Bray said: "Boots is our largest store and they were pleased with their figures which are building up considerably and high in relation to last year."

Some Bolton retailers now say a day out at the sales is becoming more important to committed shoppers than pre-Christmas spending and the number of bargain hunters is being swollen by the growing number of people who now give gift vouchers or money instead of presents.

Children as young as nine often ask for money or vouchers to spend in the sales instead of opening traditional gifts on Christmas morning.

Nationally there have been reports about disappointed bargain hunters going home empty handed after failing to find promised spectacular discounts.

But Mrs Singleton said: "Retailers know they have to offer big discounts to bring customers in - we have at least five shops offering 50pc discounts."

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