Shoppers turned out for the Boxing Day sales in Inverness today with queues of people outside Next in the Eastgate Centre before it opened at 6am.
Trading has been brisk at the centre in five out of the past six days, but the pre-Christmas rush was replaced by ‘an air of quiet determination’, according to Eastgate centre manager Jackie Cuddy.
She said: “People seem to know what they’re looking for, so they’re heading in and out quite quickly, keeping the car park and malls flowing.
“They’re coming in to check out the sales or perhaps they already know what they want and have checked online.
“In any case, there are lots of shoppers in the malls with lots of bags, and queues at the tills, so it looks like a good day.
“The atmosphere is nice and mellow after the last-minute rush which sparked gridlock in the town on Monday.”
Inverness retail park on Eastfield Way also saw brisk trade without the dash earlier in the week which led to traffic backing up on the A96.
In Oban, the tone was also more leisurely as customers picked up bargains.
Margaret Maxwell, assistant manager at The Original Factory Shop in Oban, said: “We have had a good few people in.
“All of our Christmas stuff is half price today, so we have had a few coming in for that, and they have been picking up other bits and pieces.
“They all look pretty relaxed after the big day.”
The St Giles Centre in Elgin opened at 11am avoiding early morning queues at the door.
Calum Sinclair, supervisor at the centre, said: “It is just steady, the normal for Boxing Day. We have had a few people in, but no big queues.
“The likes of Argos and Monsoon are doing sales and there have been quite a few customers in there.”
