CHRISTMAS is coming early for Liverpool retailers as shoppers have flooded to its stores.

Liverpool One had its busiest-ever week in the seven days to Sunday, with 739,100 shoppers pouring into its shops, more than 200,000 more than the same week last year.

Major retailers on Church Street have also seen huge uplifts in sales – Primark’s store is its best-performing outside London, while Marks & Spencer is reaping the rewards from its £22m refurbishment. Other shopping centres in the region are maintaining sales, despite the recession entering a second Christmas.

Chester’s Grosvenor Shopping Centre said trading has been “very positive”, while Golden Square, in Warrington, said it was “quite buoyant”.

Liverpool One is leading the way, with a 41% increase in footfall.

And its management expect its shopper figures to be a short-lived record – as they prepare to welcome more than 800,000 people in the last full shopping week before Christmas.

The tills have also been ringing loudly across the £1bn development, with like-for-like sales up 21%.

Liverpool One’s estate director, Chris Bliss, said: “There is no denying 2009 has been a difficult year for the retail sector as a whole, but we have worked hard on our offering at Liverpool One to ensure a great retail and leisure offering.

“We have also looked to offer visitors something extra each time they visit, most recently with the Ice Palace and the Liverpool One Wheel.

“We’re getting positive feedback from our retailers, too. John Lewis, in particular, has experienced a great quarter four with very healthy sales.”

John Lewis – often described as a bellwether of middle-class spending – has seen significant year-on-year increases in sales in recent weeks.

In the week to December 5, sales were up 12%, following a 22% increase on the last week in November, which itself came after three consecutive rises of 10%.

But the success of Liverpool One has not been at the expense of the rest of the city centre.

Although Primark and Marks & Spencer do not discuss individual store performance, people close to the retailers said they were delighted with their pre-Christmas sales, and Primark’s sales were described as “mindblowing”.