Post-Christmas sales fever helped create one of the busiest shopping days of the year yesterday, with some bargain hunters even camping out overnight in Bradford to beat the crowds.

At Sonics electronics store in Ingleby Road, customers waited from early evening on Christmas Day to save hundreds of pounds in its sale, and before the doors had even opened there were 500 people queuing to get in.

And managers at the Kirkgate Centre in Bradford expected Boxing Day to be as busy as Christmas Eve – which they described as one of its busiest days ever.

Centre manager Catherine Riley said most of its retailers had requested to open for a full day, rather than the usual bank holiday opening hours, to make the most of the shopping frenzy.

With many online retailers starting their sales on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, High Street stores attempted to hold onto shoppers by offering huge discounts and longer Boxing Day opening hours.

Last year the sale at Sonics also attracted hundreds of bargain hunters, so this year four staff were hired to keep the crowds under control.

One of the must haves on the hardy shoppers’ lists was a 51 inch, 3D plasma television, reduced from more than £700 to £299. Ashfaq Ahmad, 36, a supervisor of Bradford, was first in line by arriving at 6.30pm on Christmas Day.

He said yesterday: “We’ve been up all night. I came for the buzz of it, I haven’t been to a sale like this so I decided to see what the fuss was all about.“ He braved the chilly evening to buy a television, but after almost 14 hours of waiting he said: “It is never to be repeated again. You are jeapordising your sleep just to save money.”

Fellow customer Jang Ahmed, 20, a student who had queued since 10pm on Christmas Day, said: “The 51in TV is the main thing I’m after. It is a £300 saving so it will probably be worth the wait.”

Store manager Pash Showan said: “To have that number of people queuing before a shop opens in unprecedented.

“In the first two hours of the sale we were up 40 per cent on last year’s sale. You can hardly move in the store. I think we have picked up sales on the back of Comet closing. The sales are definitely something people have saved up for. It has become a bit of a tradition for people.”

The store has hired three former staff from the recently closed Comet store in the run-up to the sale. Mrs Riley decided to open the Kirkgate Centre longer on Boxing Day to match changing shopping patterns. She said: “Over the last several years Boxing Day has got busier and busier. We expect it to have been as busy as Christmas Eve.

“These days a lot of people give money as a gift, and if people wait for the sales they can get value for that money.”

Shopper Ciaran Gilmartin, 18, braved the sales, but said he prefers online shopping to avoid the queues.

The student said: “You can’t get into some places. I’m not a big shopping person, I just came to see if I could get a bargain.”