Shopping in the sales

Yes, don't go, do it online!

Couldn't agree more, phoenix!

Oh but it isn't the same - we kind of want to make a day of it.

If the run-up to Christmas isn't going well for retailers, they have been known to start pre-Christmas sales in the last few years.

Are you completely sure that you're not Epping?

Epping? Is that some strange new internet code?

Beyond Barking, Ana or I could have said Dagenham.

Oh I see - I was trying to find words that rhyme with 'forest'!

If you're set on going, I'd say check out the opening times and try and get there before the crowds.. Or even check when the shops close and go in the evenings when it's quieter. Mind you, going in the evening might mean missing out on some of the bargains!

Mulberry , are you planning on going to your nearest town, or actually contemplating Oxford Street?

Sharp elbows, or perhaps even a well aimed umbrella. You just have to be completely unscrupulous when you have your eye on a bargain. I have always found the best value to be in towels and bedding.

Oh no, not Oxford Street. I'm not that crazy

I was thinking of either Canterbury or Bluewater (if the weather is rubbish).

Even if it's cold outside, DO NOT wear a jumper... A nice wrap over cardi will do, something you can take off when it gets way too hot in the shops!

the MulberryTree..... your DH is willing to go shopping with you - to the Boxing Day sales ????
I see you don't live in the north of England. Perhaps that explains it

I think Bluewater will be absolutely heaving !! All those people going to M&S and BHS to return the jumper that they got from Auntie Gladys.........

I lived near to Bluewater until recently, and have horrid memories of queuing back on the M2 to get there both before and after Christmas. (And turning round and heading home!)

I suspect that the M60 will be like that when Trafford Centre sales are on. I never even make the attempt - shudder!

You lot aren't being very encouraging!

I know, but honest! Wherever you go, get there early and have breakfast there - you can certainly do that at Bluewater, and it's a nice thing to do. But, about the Next sale - people do queue overnight....

Leave Next till the first flush of the crowds have gone!! Often here the queues have been so long that security men have to be on the doors to only let so many in at a time.
If we do go - DD,DGD and me - we go early and persuade someone to drive us there and drop us off and then we have no queueing for a parking space. Last year we found none of the shops ( apart from Next ) that busy. We also try and have a look in the shops before Christmas to see if there is anything we like - if you do not like it full price then don't bother as you will probably not wear it!

Quite right Bez only buy things because you like them , not because they're cheap and a 'bargain'. Nothing's a bargain if you only wear it once.

My sales mantra - a bargain is only a bargain if you need it or lust after it fall in love with it of course.

Oh Ariadne, memories of that traffic - and I was just starting to become nostalgic for Bluewater at Christmas! What was I thinking of? All cured now, thanks so much!
Would not dream of adding myself to the weight of humanity out shopping the day after Christmas. For one thing we have usually sometimes just been given lovely things and had yummy food; Boxing Day is a time for just being together before the glow wears off (easy because let's face it most of them are out of the way in bed). And for another it's all available online. On year I did stay up until midnight on Christmas Day to log on for the Marks sale as I'd heard that they would be selling off their wedding stuff when they stopped stocking it, and I did get some lovely bridesmaids' dresses for my daughter's wedding.

I never shop in the sales, you get what you pay for. A lot of stock is brought in specially for the sale.