GWENT shops which opted to open yesterday reported a roaring trade at the start of the sales.

But many stores throughout the county remained closed. People in Newport town centre were mostly window shopping as only a few shops opened.

Denise Elliott, store supervisor at the Hyper Value store, said customers had been queueing outside the shop since 9.30am.

"It hasn't stopped all day," she said. "We've done really well, but we are always busy at this time of year."

Stores open in Cwmbran were also doing well. The Harvey Furnishing Group, Cwmbran Drive, were snowed under with customers. The store's manager, Sarah Moses, said: "We have been very busy all day but we didn't have any door busters when we opened at 9am.

"The customers must all be mad to come out in this snow because it's freezing. "Our car park has been chock-a-block."

Staff at Curry's electrical store, also at Cwmbran Drive, were also rushed off their feet in a sales frenzy.

A member of the sales staff, covering for the manager who was too busy to come to the phone, said: "It has been going well in all departments today and there was a huge queue waiting outside for the doors to open this morning."

Few retailers opened their doors in Mon-mouthshire, although the Monmouth branch of Woolworths reported a successful day's trading.

A spokesman for the store said: "Sales have been going very well and there was quite a large queue waiting to get into the store this morning.

"We were expecting this to happen so we decided to open from 9am-5pm." In Abergavenny only two stores opened for the Boxing day trade - Woolworths and Currys.

Both reported busy activity with many people queuing outside before the shops opened. A spokesman for Currys said: "It's been constant, there have been periods where we've been rushed off our feet and other quieter moments."

Manager of the Wool-worths in Abergavenny, Abigail Garrett, said: "We had a few people queuing outside and a lot of people browsing rather than purchasing goods. "All in all I think every day is worth opening as long as you have customers coming through the doors."

In Chepstow Woolworths manager Gary Pritchard reported "buoyant sales", and said: "Not many stores have opened in the town. In fact, I think we're the only one. "It's been very busy with lots of people phoning up to check if we are open before they make a visit."

Traders in Newport said the sales season was very important for them. Richard Thwaites, manager of Bhs, said: "The history of this store is that it trades extremely well during both Christ-mas and New Year."

Next opened to queues at 6am today and manager Claire Witts said: "This is a good chance to clear all our stock for next season, although we've had a fantastic Christmas."