Bargain-hunters target Shrewsbury sales
Early bird bargain hunters started queuing before dawn for the first day of the sales in Shrewsbury this morning.
Doors opened extra early for the famous Next Sale in the Pride Hill Centre, in Shrewsbury, which started at 6am and a host of other top stores followed suit.
Stores include Marks and Spencer, River Island, Monsoon, Dorothy Perkins, Wallis, Top Shop and others were busy in what is expected to be the town’s biggest ever sales day.
Kevin Lockwood, Manager of the Darwin, Pride Hill and Riverside Centres, said: "We expect Boxing Day to be another busy day as shoppers plan an early start to take advantage of the post-Christmas sales.
"If the last few weeks have been anything to go by, we expect to see the centres remain busy well into the sales and New Year period."
Shoppers can park without charge in the town’s public car parks though the Raven Meadows multi-storey will remain closed today.
M&S in the Darwin Centre are open for the first time on Boxing Day in Shrewsbury, Emma Cassidy, the store’s Commercial Manager, said: “We’re open from 8am to 6pm and this is a first for us in Shrewsbury.
“We’re keen to help support the other retailers and hope that if we’re open then others will be encouraged to do so as well.
“We’re really looking forward to it and we’re making the staff a special hot breakfast to keep them going and offering them lunch as well so there should be quite a festival atmosphere.”
At River Island manager Charlotte Buckley-Robins said: “Boxing Day is the busiest trading day of the year for us and we have an extra 12 staff in to cope with the workload.”
Monsoon in the Darwin Centre also opened for the first time in Shrewsbury on Boxing Day along with their Accessorize store in Pride Hill Centre. Deputy manager Carolyn Codd said: “It’s our first time and we’re hoping it will be very successful.
“I love it when it’s really busy and we’re expecting a really good trading day and if more stores are open then more people will come and it will work for everyone.
“We made sure everything was sorted on Christmas Eve so we were ready to go when the doors opened this morning.”
Kevin Lockwood added: “Shrewsbury has been doing better than the national average and our footfall figures show that for the first week in December while nationally shopper numbers were down on last year by almost five per cent we actually saw a positive increase.
“Business has been brisk and people have enjoyed the run-up to Christmas and are also looking forward to the sales”.
