Sales?

[Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz]

January Sales?????

The teletext news didn't do very well today with the 'hordes hitting the sales' news - queues from 7 am outside Bullring shopping centre in Birmingham plus 4 hour queues at Selfridges. WOW!

[Realistbear]

January Sales?????

The teletext news didn't do very well today with the 'hordes hitting the sales' news - queues from 7 am outside Bullring shopping centre in Birmingham plus 4 hour queues at Selfridges. WOW!

Guess where all that record mortgage money is going!

Many of the queues are apparently forming for limited numbers of "loss leading"bargains. Deeper discounting is also drawing some but this will not help the retail sector as actual profits have to be made to keep stores open and payrolls fulfilled.

[mad'un]

It WAS busy today at the sales, granted.

I called in at PC World for a new printer etc, talking to one of the managers he claimed that last year they opened for 4 hours only. This year as we spoke, they had been open for 7 hours and only achieved half of last year's sales. He was gutted and put it down to recession. Everyone is either buying cheaply, or as in my case chasing price-matches which have been driven right down by the other retailers.

I reckon this is common throughout retail at the moment.

[jacob]

It WAS busy today at the sales, granted.

I called in at PC World for a new printer etc, talking to one of the managers he claimed that last year they opened for 4 hours only. This year as we spoke, they had been open for 7 hours and only achieved half of last year's sales. He was gutted and put it down to recession. Everyone is either buying cheaply, or as in my case chasing price-matches which have been driven right down by the other retailers.

I reckon this is common throughout retail at the moment.

PC world's sales are very aggressive right now. Their margins must be under severe pressure...

[tonytramcar]

My son went to Croydon to-day and reported that most places were shut. The sheeple had to content themselves window-shopping at Burger King..

[Guest Bart of Darkness]

PC world's sales are very aggressive right now. Their margins must be under severe pressure...

They are claiming to have the biggest computer sale in the UK.

I had a look but they all seemed normal sized to me.

I'd rather have a small laptop anyway.

[Guest Charlie The Tramp]

Any ideas who are doing the highest spec digital cameras at the lowest price.

[right_freds_dead]

the man from west colne home for the blind ?

[StainlessSteelCat]

Missus and I did the tour of the sales in the High St (mostly cos she had some M&S vouchers burning a hole in her pocket - but was denied because it doesn't start until tomorrow:lol:).

Dixons - was there a sale? Practically nobody in the store. Managed to pick up some mispriced gold plated interconnects for 99p.

WHSmith. Big thing about 75% off - er yes if you want to buy a copy of Catwoman for £3.25. Nothing you can't pick up cheaper secondhand or new from ebay. Vaguely tempted by Dr Who annual for £2 (reduced from £6) but figured they'd probably be £1 or less by end of Jan.

Woolies. Bugger all.

Iceland. Even had it's own half price sale. Carnivorous Mrs managed to get giant pizzas including cow meat for 50p each.

Argos. Seemed well busy - not sure on the buying/returning ratio though.

Missus still managed to spend £6 on clothes in Primark though.

Overall it seemed very quiet shopperswise with few new bargains.

[right_freds_dead]

you should have headed to smartprice. there was 5p of a packet of rich tea. with each blister pack of mallows.

[rainbow]

Best Sale I've seen so far is at Countrywide Letting Agents in Old Christchurch Road, Bournemouth.

Massive red SALE posters across the window, "Free Admin for new tenants throughout January", rents on all properties in the window reduced from between £50 and £100 a month. Really eyecatching.

[Shamus]

Best Sale I've seen so far is at Countrywide Letting Agents in Old Christchurch Road, Bournemouth.

Massive red SALE posters across the window, "Free Admin for new tenants throughout January", rents on all properties in the window reduced from between £50 and £100 a month. Really eyecatching.

Thanks for the information. We might be looking to move closer to Bournemouth from the Christchurch end in. Nice to know we will probably be able to haggle prices down

[Realistbear]

Went to Stratford yesterday and M & S were closed (as were half the other big stores). But I did see something I have never seen before in M & S--Big red "SALE" posters gearing up for today.

Is this a first for M & S?

I have a feeling we may get what we have been praying for in 2006. A HPC along with everything else going pearshaped. The anecdotal evidence on this site of massive drops in house prices seems to be building and the reductions are getting larger. Makes you wonder how long the VIs can keep the pretense of a soft landing going?

Edited December 27, 2005 by Realistbear

[lowrentyieldmakessense(honest!)]

Any ideas who are doing the highest spec digital cameras at the lowest price.

cash converters?

are you really going to buy something you dont really need.

[bottletop]

Any ideas who are doing the highest spec digital cameras at the lowest price.

how about this?

£199

The Lumix DMC-FZ20 features a Leica DC Vario-Elmarit Lens, 12x Optical Zoom, 5.36 Megapixels and a 16MB SD Memory Card is included.

The DMC-FZ20's advanced zoom lens takes you all the way from 36mm wide angle to 432mm telephoto. Shoot open landscapes, zoom in on a room interior, or pull a distant object right up close.

With most compact zoom lenses, the brightness tends to be lower in the telephoto range. Not the FZ20. Its 12x optical zoom lens delivers f/2.8 brightness all the way to full telephoto.

Use the 4x digital zoom together with the 12x optical zoom and you've got ultra-powerful 48x zooming. That approximates a huge 1728mm lens on a 35mm camera.

Benefits:

Leica DC Vario-Elmarit Lens

5.36 Megapixel CCD

12x Optical Zoom

Optical Image Stabilizer

Mega Burst Shoot (3fps)

2.0" Monitor With 130k Pixel Resolution

16MB SD Memory Card

Histogram Display

[Guest boredwaiting]

Any ideas who are doing the highest spec digital cameras at the lowest price.

I am working abroad at the moment and had to find somewhere to buy a TV. these guys were great www.technikdirekt.de They shipped it to denmark and were cheaper than anywhere I found in the uk (inc. shipping costs). Ask them for a discount on their price - tell them you can get it a little cheaper in the uk and could they match it.

It's a buyers market

[AteMoose]

http://uk.pricerunner.com

http://www.pricerunner.co.uk/photography/d...s/339696/prices

£553.95

although importing it from HK you can get it for less

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Canon-EOS-350D-UK-Le...1QQcmdZViewItem

Edited December 27, 2005 by moosetea

[Webmaster]

Best Sale I've seen so far is at Countrywide Letting Agents in Old Christchurch Road, Bournemouth.

Massive red SALE posters across the window, "Free Admin for new tenants throughout January", rents on all properties in the window reduced from between £50 and £100 a month. Really eyecatching.

Can you get a photo and post it?

[dude]

Iceland. Even had it's own half price sale.

Is it just me or do the sofa sales (50% off) mean we are normally being ripped off? Indeed, why do I then feel even with 50% off I'm still being ripped off?

If you can sell a sofa for £1600, and then still sell it for £800 and make a profit (after all the sofa sector won't be too hot on repeat sales) we must be being stung! Some stores even say they can sell some of these at half price, and then a further 10% off. They must have a mark up on this, so 60% reduction (or is that 55%?) means the original £1600 must be an absolute rip off.

Perhaps they work on the basis that the least popular (sh1ttest colour?) will be discounted, but all others are on at the extortionate price.

[AteMoose]

Is it just me or do the sofa sales (50% off) mean we are normally being ripped off? Indeed, why do I then feel even with 50% off I'm still being ripped off?

If you can sell a sofa for £1600, and then still sell it for £800 and make a profit (after all the sofa sector won't be too hot on repeat sales) we must be being stung! Some stores even say they can sell some of these at half price, and then a further 10% off. They must have a mark up on this, so 60% reduction (or is that 55%?) means the original £1600 must be an absolute rip off.

Perhaps they work on the basis that the least popular (sh1ttest colour?) will be discounted, but all others are on at the extortionate price.

Looks like it, just checked ebay, new sofa sets 2 seater and a 3 seater together seem to sell for 300 to 600 ukp for the set

Edited December 27, 2005 by moosetea

[Guest Charlie The Tramp]

£199

The Lumix DMC-FZ20 features a Leica DC Vario-Elmarit Lens, 12x Optical Zoom, 5.36 Megapixels and a 16MB SD Memory Card is included.

Cheers guys, this looks a very good buy and the great part is they have a store just 15 minutes away.

[Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz]

Heard news bulletin on R3 earlier - went something like "most shops are open in shopping centres across the UK and retailers are reporting busy sales." Huh! Where are the stories about people camping out for their bargains, etc.

If this is the best spin they can come out with, they really are desparate!

[Guest Bart of Darkness]

Heard news bulletin on R3 earlier - went something like "most shops are open in shopping centres across the UK and retailers are reporting busy sales." Huh! Where are the stories about people camping out for their bargains, etc.

It strikes me that individual companies (DFS, Dixons etc.) are not going to say "things are very quiet for us right now" because it reflects badly on their company specifically, especially if the competition says nothing. Perhaps the BBC should rely less on what they are spoon fed by retailers and actually go out and look for themselves?

Still it is a bit nippy today!

[Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz]

BBC Wales Bulletin 'lead story' mentioned that the sales had started and that it was make or break time for retail. There was a report from the busiest shopping street in Cardiff, which looked quiet.

[timetopaythepiper]

I went to Next in Leigh this morning at about 10am hoping there would be some kids clothes left. The Next sale is usually very ugly with hordes of people with arm fulls of clothes(mostly women) shoving and pushing. I was amazed not only was it not packed but there was loads of good stuff left. I go to the Next sale every year, it's definatley different this time!!