Shoppers prove unstoppable

Shops around the country enjoyed their busiest day of the year yesterday, as a combination of low interest rates and pent-up Christmas energy unleashed a stampede of bargain hunters.

Queues began forming outside large shopping centres as early as 2am, despite freezing conditions and predictions of an economic downturn. Some reports suggested that overall spending in the winter sales could top £13bn.

At Europe's biggest indoor shopping plaza, the Bluewater centre in Kent, 500 people queued in the early hours for the sales to begin. Clothes store Next opened at 6am but was forced to bring down its shutters temporarily at 6.30am to prevent overcrowding.

A Bluewater spokeswoman said: "We're expecting in excess of 160,000 shoppers here today. I've just been on to the car park levels and it does look busier than at any time last year. We're expecting this will be the busiest day of the trading season."

In the north of England, the Trafford Centre said it had been busting sales records the way neighbouring Manchester United once did in football. "There is absolutely no sign of any recession here," a spokeswoman said. "We are having another magnificent day on top of a record-breaking month.

"We couldn't believe how busy it was so early this morning: 2,000 people were already queuing at 6am. We have never seen anything like this before.

"Even more surprising is that full-price items, especially designer brands like Versace, are as popular as sale goods. And anything to do with DVDs is flying off the shelves. It's unprecedented."

Designer department store Fenwick of Bond Street confirmed that top-end fashions were to die for among shoppers in London: "By lunchtime we were considerably up on last December. Designer wear is doing very well - people are obviously looking for labels."

Experts attributed the rush to the interest rate cuts and the "sod it" factor.

Richard Hyman of the retail consultancy Verdict said: "Courtesy of the chancellor and the Bank of England, we're all paying rather less to service our mortgages. Lower interest rates have both put money in people's pockets and dissuaded people from saving."

There was a release of pent-up energy after the two-day Christmas break: "After two days of eating, drinking and being cooped up with the family, people are desperate to get out."

Added to this was a sense of defiance, with the public determined to ignore world events: "It's the bugger-it factor - people are buggered if they're going to let what happened on September 11 ruin their Christmas."

At the Meadowhall shopping centre in Sheffield, a spokeswoman said: "We have had people queuing from 2am and, from what the outlets have been telling me today, the good pre-Christmas sales don't seem to have dampened people's appetite for the sales."

Marks & Spencer, which began its sale at 16 stores yesterday, said the results had been dramatic. A spokeswoman added: "I was in the Marble Arch store at lunchtime. You could hardly move, there were so many people in there."

In central London, Harvey Nichols' managing director, Joseph Wan, said the store was on course for record sales on its first day of opening since a Christmas Day jewellery robbery.

Selfridges too reported booming sales, with 2,300 staff drafted in for duty. Sonia Campbell, 26, a secretary from Highbury, north London, said at the Oxford Street store: "I've got money to spend and I'm going to spend it. That's what it's there for. I'm not worried about talk of a recession at the moment - after all, it is Christmas."