IT might seem trivial to talk about the festive sales when a tent city is created in the centre of Bolton.

However, the sales are now a part of the Christmas holidays and continue to attract thousands of shoppers, even when money is tight.

We all love a bargain and going around the shops to see what has plummeted in price is still a popular activity during the festive break.

What less affluent times has certainly done, however, is turn more of us into canny shoppers.

Here, people often buy gifts for birthdays and other occasions throughout the year.

I queued behind a couple in Boots who had a trolley laden with around 20 gift sets they had picked up for half-price.

We generally now discriminate more when shopping and opt only for items we genuinely need.

Well, that’s the argument I used after going to the NEXT sale anyway!