BARGAIN HUNT; Shops swamped in last minute dash for gifts.

Byline: BY EMILY NASH 

SHOPPERS finally went crazy for Christmas yesterday in the hunt for last-minute bargains.

Stores battled to boost sales by slashing prices up to 70 per cent. One analyst said shoppers were up 7.1 per cent on the same period in 2007.

Capital Shopping Centres, which owns 14 centres including Lakeside in Essex, said: "Tills were ringing by 11.30am on Sunday with last-minute panic shopping."

It said: "Customers were trying to find bargains for Wiis, laptops and cameras."

Around 600,000 people visited the West End in London on Saturday alone - up 17.9 per cent on 2007. Selfridges said it was "one of the busiest weekends of 2008".

The Retail Consortium said discounts and the VAT and rate cuts helped shoppers overcome credit crunch fears. But Bruno Rost, of Experian, said shopper numbers were down overall on 2007, despite increases over the weekend.

He said: "On Monday, we were six per cent down, Wednesday nine per cent, on Friday 12 per cent down.

"There is a lot less money going through tills."

Sainsbury's, Asda and Tesco have also said most stores will open 24 hours from Monday until Christmas Eve.

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