By Graham Huband and Dave Lord

THOUSANDS OF shoppers hit the streets for the last trading weekend before Christmas, with stores reporting a steady flow of customers through their doors.

Retailers in various parts of Scotland spoke of a healthy turnout of shoppers, broadly in line with last year’s figures.

A number of stores were said to be offering discounts of 10%-20%, with some slashing prices by up to 70% on selected items.

Hard-pressed retailers in Dundee city centre have been offering deals aplenty over recent days to entice shoppers from their homes, and their efforts proved fruitful over the weekend as the main shopping precincts were packed out.

The High Street and Murraygate were teeming with people throughout the weekend and both the Overgate and Wellgate centres enjoyed a bumper couple of days.

Overgate general manager Karen Stewart said it had been a fantastic weekend with in excess of 50,000 shoppers passing through the doors on Saturday alone.

She said it was great to see so many people out spending their cash and the sound of jingling tills was the perfect antidote to the credit crunch gloom that had surrounded the retail trade in recent months.

“Yesterday we had an uplift on the same Saturday last year, which we are absolutely delighted about, with over 50,000 through the doors,” she added. “Today again has been a very strong day.

“The general feeling is very positive. We are expecting to be really good right up to the point we close the doors on Christmas Eve.”

The Wellgate general manger John Morton said he was also extremely pleased at the number of people who were out spending.

“It was very busy yesterday and busy again today, although it was a little less so as traditionally Sunday is a bit slower,” he said.

“[However], the car park was full by 12 o’clock today. We do our footfall count at the end of the month but I’d say there was easily 50,000 on Saturday.”

The Kingdom Shopping Centre in Glenrothes said the number of customers visiting the stores appeared to be increasing as Christmas approaches.

A spokesman said, “We had 210,000 last week and it certainly seems busier this week.

“Yesterday was a very busy day. The mall was extremely busy for long periods of time.

“The big question we’ll find out after Christmas is have they spent?”

In Perth the tills were ringing amid the crowds of shoppers.

“I have had a very enjoyable afternoon and have managed to get the last few bits and pieces I needed for the festive season,” said Donna Crowe from Fife.

“The one change we have noticed is that there seem to be a lot of sales on, which is fairly unusual in the run-up to Christmas.

“I guess that could be seen as evidence of the credit crunch but to be honest I am not really complaining,” she added.

Local businesses are now hoping for another busy few days as the final countdown to the big day begins in earnest.