Once the online deadline has passed and schools break up for Christmas, then we will get shoppers out for last-minute bits and pieces.

Overall, 2005 saw higher numbers of shoppers on the High Street than in 2004, though this camouflages what was a challenging second half of the year for most retailers.

The quiet Christmas Eve seems to suggest that consumers treated Saturday and Sunday as their rest days and that the savvy shopper is now back out shopping with a vengeance.

Despite the fantastically busy first two shopping days after Christmas, normality seems to have returned with shopper numbers falling.

Shoppers really took advantage of the holiday days this year and early bird bargains were the watchword of the week. Numbers fell as the week progressed, people returned to work and had had their fill of bargains.