WATCH: Early morning queues as Limerick shoppers hit the sales

PANDEMIC or no pandemic Limerick shoppers rose from their beds early this St Stephen’s Day morning with one thing on their minds -  to bag a bargain, or two!

Rebecca O’Brien, assistant store manager at Next in the Crescent Shopping Centre pulled up in the car park to discover a fine snaking queue had formed under the cover of darkness.

“We had about 80 people in the queue. We were busy enough. We opened the store at 7am and I arrived at work at six o’clock and they were already there,” she explained. 

While there are discounts to be had across all the departments, once again there is one area doing better than the rest. Anyone who has been to the St Stephen’s Day early-morning sales at Next, will be familiar with scenes of parents filling big sacks with clothes for their children.

“There is good value - it’s 50% or more off. The kids department is the most popular - the parents buy a lot of stuff for the kids for the year,” Rebecca said.

“Some of the other stores have opened out here now. We opened first at 7am, the other shops opened at 10am. I thought it would be quieter but we’re busy enough. Even the Crescent security said he thought it would be quieter than what it was.”

With St Stephen’s Day falling on a Sunday this year, a number of Limerick stores remain closed until tomorrow, Monday, although in some cases sales have begun online.

The online discounts will of course appeal to those who have unexpectedly found themselves isolating alone due to the Omicron variant.