A Middlesbrough retail hub is starting the New Year on a high after reporting a rise in sales during the festive period.
Hillstreet Shopping Centre said 239,739 shoppers filed through the doors in the six days to December 31 after almost half a million tried to bag a bargain in the week before Christmas day.
Centre manager Peter Drabble said the performance was roughly in line with the same period last year, although footfall this year had led to more purchases at the tills.
He said: “Retailers at the centre have bettered their sales performance last year by 5%. That’s not a bad result in the current climate.
“Our busiest day across the whole Christmas period was Tuesday December 23, with 65,719 shoppers making the most of the late night shopping to stock up on last minute gifts.
“We will always have the internet to compete with and economic conditions are still tough - but it felt really, really busy this year and we’re still seeing healthy footfall in January.”
Hillstreet retailers slashed prices to encourage festive bargain-hunters to part with their cash. Monsoon, Pandora, New Look and M&S promoted discounts of up to 60% in the last shopping week of December.
This trend has been replicated across the country and has sparked a positive set of results from Britain’s biggest retailers.
Department store House of Fraser reported record Christmas trading with like-for-like sales up 8% in the six weeks to January 3. Meanwhile, John Lewis reported a 4.8% hike in festive sales while fashion retailer Ted Baker said revenues were up 22.8% in the eight weeks to January 3.
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