People were lining the pavements at Aintree Shopping Park ahead of opening time
Queues before opening time at Aintree Shopping Park on the last Sunday before Christmas 2025(Image: Liverpool ECHO)
Large queues formed outside shops at Aintree Shopping Park this morning ahead of the 11am opening time. Last-minute food and gifts were on the minds of those who gathered early to be among the first through the doors of stores including Marks and Spencer and Next.
Pictures from an ECHO reader showed the scale of the queues, with lines stretching back yards from the entrance to the shops. With just days until Christmas on Thursday, shoppers clearly hoped to pick up last-minute gifts, food and drink ahead of the big day.
Liverpool city centre was packed on Saturday, with throngs of shoppers laden with bags making their way through town.
Retailers have their hopes pinned on a big last festive shopping weekend, after retail sales dipped unexpectedly last month.
Black Friday discounts failed to boost spending in the run-up to Christmas, official figures showed.
Queues before opening time at Aintree Shopping Park on the last Sunday before Christmas 2025(Image: Liverpool ECHO)
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the total volume of retail sales is estimated to have fallen by 0.1% in November.
This follows a 0.9% drop in October, and was a surprise decline as most analysts had been expecting a 0.4% increase for the month.
Supermarket sales fell for the fourth month in a row, by 0.5% in November, with retailers reporting a lower number of shoppers coming to stores.
The ONS also said the effect of Black Friday – with discounts typically stretching well beyond the specific end-of-November date – appeared to be slightly weaker this year than usual.
Queues before opening time at Aintree Shopping Park on the last Sunday before Christmas 2025(Image: Liverpool ECHO)
It was a disappointing month for non-store retailers – which primarily includes online shops but also sellers like street stalls and markets – with sales dropping by 2.9%.
In particular, online jewellers noted reduced demand following a period of stronger interest in gold.
ONS senior statistician Hannah Finselbach said: “This year November’s Black Friday discounts did not boost sales as much as in some recent years, meaning that once we adjust for usual seasonality, our headline figures fell a little on the month.
“Meanwhile, our separate household survey showed that although some people said they were planning to do more shopping this Black Friday than last, almost twice as many said they were planning to do less.”
Nevertheless, the data showed that department stores’ sales volumes jumped by 2.3% in November, which some retailers said was down to a longer period of Black Friday discounting.
The volume of sales for clothes and shoe shops also rose by 1.7%, and for household goods by 1.8%.