Boxing Day sales help lift retail gloom

Relieved retailers welcomed a belated shopping blitz at yesterday's Boxing Day sales, helping to compensate for a quiet build-up to Christmas.Crowds hunting for a bargain began forming outside Illawarra stores in the early morning, though some - especially in Wollongong's Crown St Mall - remained shut.At Stockland Shellharbour, Harris Scarfe manager Andrew Giddings said the early sales had been promising."It was a great start to the morning, we had about 30 or 40 people outside the doors when we opened at 7am."The numbers were definitely up from last year and as the morning has gone on we've seen more and more people coming through the doors," he said.Mr Giddings said cookware and bedding goods were most in demand."We've done some deeper discounting than what we normally would, to try and get people out of bed," he said."I think that Boxing Day is a real bounce-back for retailers, which we hope will carry through to January."Deann Newton, who is staying in Dapto, says she wasn't disappointed."I always do the Boxing Day sales because of the bargains and because of the thrill of racing other people to things."Barrack Heights resident Emma Farnell, 18, scored possibly the biggest bargain: a $299 pair of earrings for $1."I'm really happy about the buy, we will always do the ... sales from now on."