Black Friday: Shoppers pack Winchester city looking for bargains

Black Friday was held on Friday, November 25 and Winchester high street was full of marked-down deals in different stores from independent boutiques right down to phone shops.

The Black Friday event originated in the UK after its popularity in America. It traditionally marks the start of the Christmas shopping season. 

In recent years, many Black Friday sales and events are no longer just for one day, with brands such as Oliver Bonas continuing their discounts until Monday, November 28.

Joanne Mitchell, from Neal’s Yard Remedies, said: “It’s been mad busy. Our Black Friday started last Thursday, so we’ve been mad busy for the last week.”

Many Winchester shoppers were not just out looking for deals, but they were also taking in the city's sights, its traditional weekly market and also the special Christmas market currently being held at the Cathedral. 

Kate Charlwood, a high street shopper, was on an annual visit to Winchester.

She said: “The sales didn’t drive us to go out. We came for the Christmas markets. But when I saw a sign saying ‘25 per cent off’, I did buy from there.”

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“Because we’ve come to the market before we knew it would be busy. Black Friday used to be on a particular day and now it just feels like they’re stretching it. It’s like now they [the shops] just do it to pick up people doing their Christmas shopping.”

A lot of Black Friday discounts and deals were advertised online.

Amanda Lyles, from Aspiga boutique, said: “We do a lot of emailing [to our customers] and everyone loves a deal. They might see 20 per cent off something on a certain day, and that draws people in. Our website has all our different stores too, so they might think ‘Oh there’s one in Winchester, I might pop down, which is good.”

With Black Friday deals and the Christmas attractions, Winchester high street was busy with shoppers looking at both independent and big-brand stores.

However, it's not all good news. Whilst big businesses may cash in on promoting their sales further, some independent businesses on Winchester high street say they have struggled to compete with flash sales and large discounts.

Kirk Newton, from Redleathers, said it was a challenge as they can’t afford to offer large discounts on their goods.

He said: “It’s a challenge because we’re already handmaking the bags. All the time and effort that goes into it means we’re already very competitively priced and we’re independent. We can’t afford to offer the huge discounts that the big brands do. Today is very much about brands.”