THOUSANDS of Brits have queued from the early hours to snap up bargains in the Boxing Day sales.
Long lines snaked through shopping malls including the Trafford Centre in Greater Manchester this morning.
ZenpixHundreds queue at the Trafford Centre in Manchester as they wait for Lush cosmetics to throw open its doors for the Boxing Day sales[/caption]
ZenpixLong queues snaked through the mall as a hundreds wait to snap up bargains[/caption]
Weary faces were spotted waiting patiently in line for Lush’s sale – which is offering up to 50 percent off bath bombs.
Lush’s website is currently placing customers in a digital queue as online shoppers try to steal a deal.
Queues also formed outside of Primark in Central London as fans of the bargain retailer jostled to get through the doors.
Other places were not so busy, including Nottingham where many stores have not opened today.
It comes as thousands of stores – including Home Bargains and Iceland – decided to shut for three days over Christmas to let staff spend time with their families.
Several major retailers including John Lewis, B&M and Amazon slashed their prices ahead of Boxing Day.
Today’s and January sales can be the perfect time to bag some bargains and put them away for next Christmas.
There are hundreds of discounts on clothing, cookware and tech – with some stores offering up to 70 percent off items.
Deals include a Swan Camden 2-Slice Toaster at Robert Dyas down from £37.99 to £21.99 – saving you £16.
While the Dry:Soon Drying Pod that was £99.99 at Lakeland is now £69.99.
And Vera Wang Princess Eau de Toilette (100ml) is down from £66 to just £19.99 at The Perfume Shop – a saving of £46.01.
The sales come as UK retail footfall tanked on Christmas Eve – as a third fewer shoppers hit stores than in 2019.
Footfall across all retail destinations up to 5pm on Sunday was 6.8 percent lower than last week and 20.6 percent lower than December 24 2022, data from industry analyst MRI Software shows.
Jenni Matthew from the firm said a number of factors were to blame, including the cost of living crisis.
She told the Evening Standard: “Consumers are likely to have spread the cost of Christmas and started shopping earlier.”
Total UK retail sales were up 2.6 percent year-on-year, and in-store sales were up 3.5 percent as shoppers came back to the high street.
Electronic sales were also slightly up by 1.9 percent, but there was a considerable spike on Cyber Monday, with an increase of 9.2 percent compared with 2022.
Natalia Lechmanova, senior economistfor Mastercard, said: “Shoppers have been willing to splash out for gifts, with spend on jewellery and clothing up considerably year-on-year, but wanted to do so at the right price.”
ZenpixLong queues snake through the Trafford Centre in Manchester this morning[/caption]
ZenpixThousands have got up early to grab themselves a bargain in the Boxing Day sales[/caption]
Story Picture AgencyCrowds jostled outside Primark to grab a deal at the bargain retailer[/caption]
SWNSA small queue waits outside Lush in Nottingham this morning[/caption]
SWNSOther places were not so busy, including Nottingham where many stores have not opened today[/caption]
SWNSSome places like Nottingham were almost entirely empty this morning[/caption]