Bargain hunters boost High Street sales

Buy photos » Bargain hunters have been out in force since Christmas. Picture by Marcus Mingins 0113004MMR.

THOUSANDS of shoppers have had tills ringing and provided a boost to the High Street during the New Year sales.

Retail bosses in Worcester say the sale season has so far exceeded expectations and helped to make up for a difficult October and November.

One of the biggest successes was the Next sale on Boxing Day which had hundreds of shoppers queueing up outside the Cathedral Plaza store well before 6am when it opened its doors.

John Kendrick, manager of Cathedral Plaza shopping centre, said: "The sales have been fantastic - they have been really busy. It's lovely to have the city absolutely heaving and the NCP car park with its price reductions has made a huge difference."

Mr Kendrick said attracting large numbers of shoppers had been a struggle during October and November and the quarter as a whole had been "good, without being fantastic."

"I think Worcester is probably a little more buoyant than some parts of the country. It's managing the ongoing recession pretty well," he added.

Erica Burlace, CrownGate centre manager, said sales trends had been unpredictable throughout the year with the wet weather and flooding contributing to a downturn in late November.

"However, many retailers especially the specialist and independent outlets, have bucked the trend and enjoyed a reasonable final quarter, and Christmas trade throughout the centre, including Boxing Day sales, has exceeded expectations and ended 2012 on a positive note," she added.

Footfall counters in the city centre showed that Friday, December 28 was the busiest day during the post-Christmas sales while Saturday, December 22 attracted the most shoppers in the run-up to Christmas Day.

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