A golden Friday for retailers

Love it or loathe it, it seems Black Friday is here to stay in the UK.

The US trend, which is traditionally the day after the Americans’ Thanksgiving holiday, sparked a craze when it was launched in Britain a few years ago – among unseemly sights of shoppers coming to blows over bargains as stores slashed prices.

Since then the event has become less frenzied, with stores adopting a more relaxed approach to their sales.

Indeed High Street giant Marks & Spencer has steered clear of slashing prices, insisting that instead of increasing sales, Black Friday just brings Christmas purchases forward.

Meanwhile Ikea has bowed out of taking part, saying it wants to concentrate on offering everyday low prices all year around.

However, for some retailers it’s black gold.

That’s certainly the case in Sunderland city centre, where the Bridges was set to see £1million being splurged yesterday.

Bosses at the shopping centre say it was expected to experience its busiest day of the year, with 20,000 more customers than usual set to pass through its door.

Sixty thousand customers were expected to shop across the centre’s 94 shop units.

That much influx into the city centre can only be good for business and should have a trickle down effect to the smallest trader.

In more affluent regions of the country many may find it hard to stifle a yawn on Black Friday, but here on Wearside retailers and shoppers alike are becoming more reliant on the event.