Boxing Day sales bonanza gets underway as bargain hunters flood UK high streets in £4 billion hunt for deals
BOXING Day bargain hunters are flooding into stores across the UK in an early morning bid to catch this year's best deals.
Massive queues have already formed in malls and early shoppers have been seen pouring into stores in Gloucestershire, the West Midlands, West Yorkshire, North Tyneside and more.
It is estimated half of all British adults will hit the stores today, spending almost £4 billion in one of the biggest shopping days of the year.
The Boxing Day bonanza, which beats last year’s £3.76bn record, will be nearly double the £2bn blown on Black Friday.
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Around 14 million Brits are set to hit the shops, with some queuing outside stores from 11pm last night.
Photographs taken in the early hours of this morning showed people camping out along high streets. Some waited overnight or since the early hours of the morning to ensure their place in the queues.
In North Tynside, thousands of shoppers donned their warmest clothes and braved the freezing cold temperatures to queue from the early hours for the annual Next Boxing Day sale.
The yearly tradition sees scores of bargain hunters form a snake-like queue around the Silverlink shopping park, with some dedicated shoppers arriving before 3am.
The thrifty bunch shivered their hats, scarfs and fur boots in the bitter winds as they eagerly awaited the store's grand opening at 6am.
They queued behind barriers, which were manned by the store's staff - who were on stand-by to maintain the peace.
The shoppers, armed with carrier bags and credit cards, poured into the upmarket store as soon as the door started to open - hoping to save money on clothes, perfumes and home-wear.
In Cardiff, around 2,000 bargain hunters queued outside the city's flagship NEXT store from 1am to make sure they were first in line to grab some bargains.
The bargain hunters were pictured bursting through the doors before getting lost in a mass of people pulling clothes of the railings and piling them high until they couldn't see where they were going.
Shoppers brought babies in push chairs and toddlers along with them to queue in the bitterly cold morning before the doors opened at 6am.
Security guards were heard trying to calm excited shoppers, telling them: "Go nice and slow now. Everybody is going to get in, don't worry."
Tesco is among the companies joining the shopping rush with the supermarket giant launching its biggest ever sale across 900 stores.
The New West End Company is among those expecting a bumper Boxing Day, projecting a spend of £55 million which they attribute to a sustained increase in trade from international shoppers after the Brexit vote.
Jace Tyrrell, chief executive, said: "Boxing Day always delivers for the West End but this year promises to be especially strong for retailers as visitors from around the globe make the most of the amazing deals available from our world-class mix of retailers combined with the relative value of the weak pound.
"We expect a significantly higher number of Chinese tourists to come over specifically to bargain hunt."
Myf Ryan, chief marketing officer for Westfield UK and Europe, said: "Boxing Day continues to be Westfield's busiest day of the Christmas trading period. Last year over 330,000 shoppers visited our two Westfield centres in London and again this year we are expecting similar numbers.
"During the Christmas period last year, shoppers spent over £500,000 per hour. Westfield centres are popular shopping destinations with the large majority of our 300 retailers all on sale.
"The entertainment, dining and cinema offerings also draw in the customers, particularly with the new big holiday film releases."
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