MORE than 250,000 shoppers are expected this weekend at the Liverpool ONE retail development as traders hope for a late festive boost.

Marketing director Donna Howitt said: “We are feeling positive about Christmas and post-Christmas trading but are not complacent.

“Shoppers are being asked to spend the country out of financial difficulties and they are looking for incentives and advantages to help them do that.”

With only a few shopping days left until Christmas, it was a make or break weekend for traders after many had reported worryingly reduced sales due to the credit crunch.

The expectation that savvy shoppers were delaying making purchases until the last moment in the hope of further price reductions and early sales bargains appeared to have been well-founded.

With stores slashing prices by up to 70% today, out-of-town shopping centres around the country reported queues forming before 9am.

Meanwhile, half a million people are thought to have visited London’s West End, with stores staying open longer in a bid to boost sales.

Not only did traders see increased spending from UK shoppers but they also benefited from visitors from the Eurozone taking advantage of the weakened pound.

A spokesman for the New West End Company, representing more than 600 traders in Bond Street, Oxford Street and Regent Street, said they expected a late rush of last-minute shoppers from now until Christmas Eve.

He said: “We are expecting half a million shoppers today.