Mad dash for M&S 1p sale
Thousands of shoppers queued outside Marks and Spencer stores in Dudley and across the region today to get their hands on bargains for 1p.
The retailer sparked chaotic scenes by selling 20 items including jewellery, food, mugs, frisbees and beach balls for just a penny to celebrate its 125th birthday.
Shoppers queued up from 8am outside the store at Dudley's Merry Hill Centre.
As part of the three-day extravaganza, shoppers can pick up a bag of five different items from a selected list and the penny is an optional donation for charity.
It comes the day after the company revealed its profit figures had plummeted by 40 per cent due to the recession. The firm also announced it was slicing a third off its regular dividend payout to shareholders. Annual profits at M&S fell to £604.4 million, down from £1 billion the year before.
Penny bazaars were taking place at more than 300 stores today.
The Merry Hill store is hoping to raise £10,000 over the next three days with all the proceeds going to its nominated charity Wings based in Wombourne.
Store manager Sean Dowling said: "We've had a fantastic response. We had 300 people queuing outside before we opened."
Among the bargainhunters were grandmother Doreen Mathers, 72, who was shopping with daughter Nicola Jenkinson, 41, and grandaughter three-year-old Ellie Jenkinson.
Legal secretary Mrs Jenkinson, of Elmhurst Drive, Kingswinford said: "We managed to get a lot of things and it's all for a good cause."
The penny bazaar continues tomorrow and Friday and sees the firm going back to its roots after starting as a penny bazaar in 1884.
