Sales fever swept across Hamilton yesterday with stores slashing prices on goods and shoppers flocking to snap up the bargains.

A quick trip around town, along Reid Street, down to Front Street and back via Queen Street revealed a flurry of red and white sale signs in shop windows, some offering big discounts of between 20 percent to 50 percent off items in store.

Meanwhile bargain hunters and window shoppers alike hit the streets in force to sniff out the best deals in what has proved to be an extended sale since the build-up to Christmas as retailers felt the full effects of the current economic crisis.

Walking into Reid Street through the throngs of shoppers flanked along either sidewalk, the first thing that caught the eye was a sign announcing Brown & Co.'s 50 percent off the entire Christmas stock, luring in revellers looking to stock up on festive purchases for 2009.

Further up the street a look inside the window of AS Cooper Express unveiled "20 percent off" signs plastered across the glass, while on the other side signs heavily emphasised with exclamation marks screamed out that sale time had well and truly arrived at shoe store Trends and AS Cooper & Sons Ltd. There was a similar message from fellow department store Gibbons Company across the way.

Sale signs were scattered throughout Front Street, from the handbags and jewellery on offer at Kirk's Jewelry & Design to the English Sports Shop and even Calypso, with a range of 50 percent and 75 percent discount displays interspersed within the store, inviting potential customers to take advantage of the good prices available.

But it was not just confined to the city's two main thoroughfares, with ER Aubrey Jewellers Ltd. getting in on the act as well in a bid to attract prospective clients through its doors.

The steady stream of shoppers continued throughout the course of the day, and not even a light rainshower or the fading light at around 4.30 p.m. could deter them from finishing their bargain hunting to end 2008 on a positive note amid all the economic turmoil.