Sales set soar after quiet start for shops on Boxing Day

Dec 27 2007 by Staff Reporter, Liverpool Daily Post

SALES are expected to start in earnest in Liverpool today after a quiet Boxing Day in the city centre.

The Met Quarter and Clayton Square stayed closed and while St John’s Shopping centre opened, only about 70% of the shops in it were trading.

A spokesman for St John’s, said: “It really wasn’t that busy. Just like a normal Monday or Tuesday really. A lot of the shops stayed closed.

“Liverpool has never been a place to open up on Boxing Day and most people appeared to have shied away from the city centre.

“The car park was constant but not full. People seemed to be going in and out very quickly. We were very busy on Christmas Eve and the day before so they could be shopped-out but it is possible they could get their second wind and come back today.”

The New Mersey Retail Park, in Speke, attracted a high num- ber of Boxing Day shoppers hunting for bargains. A spokes- man for furniture specialists, SCS, said: “Our sale started at 9am and we were very, very busy, which is pretty much what we expected for a Boxing Day.”

A lot of the larger stores are only expected to open their doors today for the sales.

Shoppers were expected to be camping out in the early hours of this morning to take advantage of the Next sale, which was due to start at its Church Street store at 5am while John Lewis’s clearance sale was expected to begin at 9am.

Marks and Spencer on Church Street and the Met Quarter shops also reopen today for sales.

A spokesman for Chester’s Grosvenor Shopping Centre on Newgate Street, said last night the day had started off busy.

He said: “We have only had 21 out of 76 shops open, including Debenhams, Top Shop and River Island. River Island opened at 10am and had about 50 queuing outside, but it went quiet after that.”

A sales adviser at Cheshire Oaks Designer Outlet, said: “There was a steady flow earlier on in the day, but it was difficult trying to get a car space after 12 mid-day.”

STYLE CITY – SALES SPECIAL: PAGES 3, 4-5, 8