OUR DAILY PUB QUIZ
CROWDS of shoppers braved wild weather to bag Boxing Day bargains, but sales figures were a damp squib compared with last year.
Huge queues outside high street favourites such as Next and M&S still formed part of the Boxing Day tradition.
But retail experts Springboard said footfall up to noon yesterday had declined by 10.6% – the biggest year on year drop since 2009.
Diane Wehrle, insights director at Springboard, blamed factors including the online shopping boom.
She also said the rise in blended families – where parents have children from past relationships – meant more people were still celebrating Christmas on Boxing Day instead of going out.
Diane added: “Boxing Day is a less important trading day than it once was.”
Among those bucking the trend was Sian Scanlon from Bootle in Merseyside, first in line outside Lush in Liverpool.
Sian, 30, arrived at 6.30am, three and a half hours before doors opened, and said: “It’s 50% off all the Christmas gift sets so I’ll spend about £200 and get about £400 worth of stuff.” Vidhapthri Matety, 23, of Leicester, was shopping with friends and said: “We got here at 5.30am and it’s been a real experience.
“I’ve got lots of reduced clothes as well as some shoes and other things. We’ve probably saved £300.”
Friends Diane Davies of Pontypridd, South Wales, and Karen Potts of nearby Tylorstown met up at 5.30am for a spending spree in Cardiff.
Diane, 57 said: “I get for my grandkids – Christmas jumpers for next year. I left my house at 5.30am, we got here about 6.30am.
“People do say you are off your head but it’s part of Christmas for us.”
Prof Joshua Bamfield, director of the Centre for Retail Research, said: “Boxing Day will have been a massive shopping day with people queueing from early morning and a buoyant atmosphere – but in-store spending will be significantly down on last year. People will check what is in stores then look for deals online instead.”
PROF JOSH BAMFIELD ON SPENDING SLUMP 1
How many Chance spaces are there on a Monopoly board?
2
In the 1947 version of Miracle on 34th Street, who plays the little girl Susan Walker? 3
Which fruit’s juice is in a bellini cocktail? 4
Stop the Cavalry was a Christmas hit for who in 1980?
5
Charles Darwin set off on his roundthe-world voyage on this day in 1831 on which ship?
People will check what is in stores – then look online