BARGAIN hunters have been out in force at Malvern Retail Park.

Stores and car parks have been packed and traders are reporting bumper sales from the first few days of the January sales.

Next launched its sale by opening at 5am on Tuesday, December 27.

While most people were still in bed, store manager Victoria Nash said car parks filled up as hundreds of people had started to queue outside the store from 3.30am.

"We were very busy for the early opening and the sale is going really well and we're producing fantastic figures," she said.

Matalan was among the first stores to open its doors, at 10am on Boxing Day.

Manager Simon Yates said sales had been fantastic and attributed the success to big savings on a range of goods in store.

"I think we may have been the only store here open on Boxing Day but we had a great day and we've continued to build on that as the sale's gone on," he said.