People were queuing up outside the shop doors of many Hamilton city centre stores on Sunday waiting for the final afternoon of shopping on Christmas Eve and bringing a busy Saturday feel to the last Sunday before Christmas. Gibbons Company was just one of the stores that had lines of people waiting to get in as it opened for four hours to accommodate a last minute shopping spree.

And no sooner has Christmas come and gone than shoppers are again flocking to the city centre to snap up bargains in the post-Christmas sales with apparently no let up in the numbers of people prepared to spend a few dollars more on bargains being offered up to 75 percent cheaper than normal. As Christmas Day fell on a Monday this year there was a later than normal start to the pre-Christmas shopping spree, explained Paula Clarke, chief merchandising officer at Gibbons Company.

To make the most of the late shopping rush Gibbons along with many other shops opened its doors on Sunday afternoon.

?We opened from one to five on Christmas Eve and we had people lining up at the doors of Reid Street and Church Street before we opened,? she said.

?We are ahead of our plans in terms of sales. The Christmas shopping started a little late, but that always happens when Christmas Day falls on a Monday. The last two weekends were the strongest.

And Gibbons is now in full swing with a four-day sale offering clothes and household goods with price reductions between 30 percent and 75 percent.

Ms Clarke said: ?It has started pretty strongly judging by the number of people we have had in the store so far today.

?People are attracted by value ? and all our sales are genuine. Some people just love to shop at sale time and we try to have a good inventory and we stay open every night until 6 p.m.?

The Gorham?s sale begins today and runs for a total of 20 hours over Thursday and Friday only, with everything reduced by 20 percent.

The store reported healthy pre-Christmas business and on Wednesday morning a spokesman said: ?We are busy restocking the sales in time for the start of the sale.?

There was a similar cheering response from other store managers who were asked how their pre- and post-Christmas business has gone.

Marks and Spencer general manager Paul Dean reported strong shopper interest in the run up to Christmas, with the Reid Street shop particularly busy during the final week before Christmas.

Mr. Dean said there was now a sale on with reductions of 30 percent on many items throughout the store.

He added: ?We had excellent business and were very happy with the response from local shoppers before Christmas and the sale has seen a positive start.?

A.S. Cooper and Sons has also seen ?slightly ahead of plan? sales figures during the Christmas spell, according to operations manager Somers Cooper.

At the start of December it re-opened its newly rebuilt Front Street flag ship store and continued to trade through a number of satellite shops.

Mr. Cooper said: ?The Christmas season has been a success. With Christmas Eve being on a Sunday many retailers opened from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. and it was tremendously busy, Reid Street looked like a typical December Saturday with difficulty parking.?

The start of the post-Christmas sales appear on track for the famous Bermuda retailer and there seems to be no lack of bargain-hunters out and about.

?People have a lot of time on their hands this week with many offices closed and people are wandering in and out of the shops,? reported Mr. Cooper.

The English Sports Shop, in Front Street, opened its sales yesterday.

Financial controller Paudie Walsh said: ?It was our first day after Christmas so we had a lot of people bringing items back to change the size or whatever.

?The sales brought a few extra people in as well ? everybody likes a sale don?t they? It?s been quite busy through our stores.

?Overall we had a busy Christmas. We had a busy weekend, particularly the days before Christmas, which was a big help.?