Shoppers brave snow for sales in East Lancashire

Traders in Blackburn and Accrington said they had seen one of their busiest days of the festive period.

And at Boundary Mill in Colne so many shoppers turned up that the 1,300-capacity car park was overflowing, with traffic backing up along the M65.

Next stores in Blackburn were particularly busy, with the chain's annual sale starting early yesterday morning.

Cars were also queuing to get into The Townsmoor retail Park with shoppers heading to TK Maxx and Blackburn's other Next store.

Store bosses in the Mall said that, after a quiet start in the morning due to a brief snow shower, it just kept getting busier with tills ringing all day.

The £66million mall extension, which houses Primark, H&M, New Look and a host of other new stores, was jammed with shoppers.

Francesca Bridson, 37, and her mum, Carol Bridson, from Blackburn, were enjoying a coffee break after their shopping spree in Next at 6.30am.

Carol said: "We have got loads of bargains. The children's clothes are the best and we think that this new Next has been busier than last year because it's a bigger and nicer store."

Maria Barnes, from Rishton, was looking for a bargain in the newly-opened H&M store.

She said: "I used to go to Preston to do most of my shopping but I haven't been there since the Mall has been done up. It is so much better now and we have no reason to go anywhere else.

"The weather is not great today but we still came out because we just wanted to have a look at what was on offer."

Bosses in the Bank clothing store, said shoppers had exceeded their expectation with boxing day sales 50 per cent more than their target for the day.

Glen Murray, store manager said: "I think shops here have had a real boost because of the regeneration of the Mall and we are very pleased that we opened a store here."

Dawn Smyth, manager of the Primark store, said: "We had a good day yesterday in term of sales but in the run-up to Christmas people were quite slow to come out because of the bad weather."

In Accrington, thousands of shoppers headed for the Arndale Centre.

Phil Bond, president of Hyndburn Chamber of Trade and store manager for Dorothy Perkins, said: "All the shops were closed on boxing day so it has been our main day and it's really busy. I think people are taking advantage of the thaw and also because they want to beat the VAT increase on bigger items like furniture."

Boundary Mill store director Jane Daunt said the attendances had been 'phenomenal' and that all departments had been crowded.

She said: “We’ve got around 600 staff working and had bumper day on Boxing Day despite the tills only being allowed to open for six hours.

“At one point on Sunday I estimate queues in the homeware department were 100 people long and Monday has been equally as crowded.

“I think many people are coming for an outing after being at home all weekend. The weather doesn’t seem to be putting people off shopping.

“The biggest sales have been in ladieswear and homeware.”

In Burnley town centre most shops were open with most major high street retailers In Charter Walks and surrounding streets launching their sales.

At Next, crowd control measures were in place to limit the numbers allowed in. Queues formed outside as staff implemented a 'one-out, one-in' system.

Fashion and electrical goods stores appeared to be among the busiest.

Laura Flanagan, 17, from Colne had spent a full day at the shops with her mum, Emma.

She said: “I’ve been itching to spend my Christmas money so we were out at the sales first thing.

“I’ve bought stuff from New Look and Next. There seems to be plenty of discounts and but it’s been very crowded.”

Hugh O’Gorman, 41, from Todmorden had treated his son Ryan, 10, to some post Christmas treats.

“We’ve got something for all the family in the sales but Ryan made sure we headed to Gamestation as the games had been discounted.”

In Rossendale, Dale Winfield, managing director of Winfields, said they had been very busy.

He said: "We have a lot of winter products and people have been piling in for it.

"You hear that it is supposed to be a bad year but we are well online to do at least as well as last year, and maybe better.

"We've sold a lot of winter clothing, wellies and waterproofs, and also workwear and work boots that people are stocking up on before they start again.

"We'll be busy now until January 4, 5 or 6 so there is still a way to go."

But in Rawtenstall, many shops remained closed due to the bank holiday.

Coun Tony Winder, member of the Rossendale Chamber of Commerce, said: "People normally go to the bigger towns for their sales shopping."

In Whalley and Clitheroe many shops were also closed .