Bargain hunters hit Shropshire shops in force

Business has been booming across Shropshire and Mid Wales with shoppers hitting the shops in the search for post-Christmas bargains.

Thousands of people across the region have been out hunting for cut-price offers in the sales.

Business was brisk at the Forge Retail Park in Telford yesterday. Car parks were packed as thousands of people descended on the retail park and Telford Town Centre was also busy throughout the day

Martin Purchase, store manager at Debenhams in Telford, said: "Things have been very promising. Yesterday was busier than Boxing Day.

"With people still off today and the rest of this week we are hopeful the trend will continue."

Tom Macklin, sales assistant at WH Smith in Shrewsbury, said: "We have been very busy. Not crazy sales, but we have had a couple of steady days since Christmas."

Rebecca Pass, of Wem Treacle Mine, added: "The run up to Christmas was really busy, but this is the first day that we have opened after Christmas so we will have to see how things go."

Meanwhile, a sales frenzy has broken out across Staffordshire and the Black Country, with store shelves stripped of bargains and shoppers pushed over in the jostle for cut-price goods.

Traffic crawled back from Dudley's Merry Hill Centre as far as Lye, more than a mile away. And one family from Wales, visiting relatives near Stourbridge, told how they saw a large area of shelving in River Island completely emptied of goods.

In Wolverhampton, sales at the Next store at St John's Retail Park were up more than 10 per cent on the shop's target figure.

Cars also queued from the Orbital Retail Centre in Cannock. Shopper Jamie Matthews was heading to the centre to pick up some groceries but turned back when he saw the traffic.

He said: "Traffic was queuing around 500 yards to get on to the retail park which was bustling."

And Birmingham's Bullring general manager Tim Walley said: "Hordes of shoppers are making the most of the seasonal discounts at the centre."