Long queues stretched around the Clock Tower this morning (Thursday, December 26) as bargain hunters arrived early for the Boxing Day sales. The biggest queue in Leicester city centre was outside Lush in Eastgates, where hundreds of people waited patiently for half-price soap and shower gel from the store.
It wasn’t the busiest Boxing Day ever, thanks to both Next and John Lewis deciding to hold off until tomorrow (Friday, December 27) before opening again after Christmas and beginning their sales. But by 10am a lot of the shops that had already opened were busy, including New Look and JD Sports.
Meanwhile, there were indoor queues inside the Highcross shopping centre for stores such as River Island, the Apple store, Zara and Boots ahead of their 10am openings. Among those in the Lush queue were Hinckley friends Kirsty Potter and Rachel Benness.
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Kirsty told LeicestershireLive: “We only came for about 10am and then we waited in the queue for Lush for about an hour. It was fine. We just chatted and queue etiquette was sound. Everyone was very calm and there was no pushing and shoving, although one woman tripped over after she got into the shop.”
Rachel said: “I’ve never come on Boxing Day before and it’s been alright. We got some nice stuff and it looks like we’ll probably be coming back next year.”
Serena Varia, 16, was in the Lush queue with her mum, Nisha. Nisha said: “My daughter wants Snow Fairy, which is a scent you can only get at Christmas. I’m hoping it’s 50 per cent off.
Lush in Eastgates had the biggest queue of all, with dozens of people lined up for 50 per cent off soap
“A lot of things are half-price today so hopefully we can save a lot of money – but it will depend on what’s left! We did expect the big queue because we were here a few years ago on Boxing Day and it was the same.”
Towards the front of the Lush queue were Beth Crane and her mum, Louise, from Belgrave, Leicester, who made sure they arrived early for the expected queue outside the store this morning. Louise said: “We got here at about 8.30am and queued for about an hour and a half – we were probably in the first 20 in the queue.”
Beth added: “It was worth it – it’s the only time they do a sale and we probably saved about £100. We got soaps, shower gels and bath bombs. The weather’s not too bad for queuing, either. It’s warmer than it was last year.”
Louise said: “There were more people than I’d thought there’d be in the queue behind us – a few more than last year.”
Myra Morami and Gabie Dlamini, who live near Leicester Royal Infirmary, turned up early and found some good bargains at JD Sports in the Highcross, which was among the first stores to open. Myra said: “There were really good deals in there – 50 per cent off lots of things. We got here at about 9.30am and the queues weren’t bad, really.”
The Christmas Market on Gallowtree Gate is also open, while some stores opted to stay closed until tomorrow (Friday)
Gabie added: “A lot of people seem to be out shopping and there are good bargains.”
The general consensus was that people had found it pretty easy to buy the bargains they were after. Yas Bentham, who was shopping with her boyfriend, said: “It was a bit mad in JD but I got some reduced sneakers. I’ve got everything I came for and it’s not been too bad. The weather, even okay!”
By midday the city streets were getting quite busy but nothing worse that a Saturday in the run-up to Christmas. The queue outside Lush finally dwindled to nothing by about 11.30am.