ONLINE sales and a boost from Black Friday helped Golden Square Shopping Centre end 2014 on a high.

New figures show the centre enjoyed a four per cent annual increase in footfall with more than 12.7 million shoppers Ian Cox, Golden Square centre director, said: “We are not only delighted with how the festive sales period went at Golden Square but also with the fact overall footfall was significantly up compared with the year before.

“With this increase in footfall, we look forward positively to 2015.

“In 2014, there were more than half a million more shoppers through our doors, a rise of more than four per cent, which amounts in total to well above 12.7 million shoppers for the year.

“We are home to hugely popular brands including Pandora, Debenhams, Marks & Spencer, Primark, H&M and Top Shop.

“It means we have a lot on offer and over the Christmas trading period we worked hard to create a festive atmosphere with the help of our traditional Christmas market, Santa’s grotto and annual Christmas light switch on, which was attended by close to 3,000 people.”

Ian added: “One of the biggest festive sales weekends for us was following Black Friday.

“On the Friday itself, footfall was up 14 per cent when compared with the same day the year before.

“On the Saturday it was up by four per cent and on the Sunday it was 14.6 per cent so it was interesting to see the impact this new retail phenomena had.”

Reporting busy trade throughout November and December was Rob Tunstall, manager of toy store The Entertainer at Golden Square.

He said: “We beat our target for the year, with sales being stronger in November and December when compared with the same months last year.

“We think this is a combination of factors including some hot trends in the market such as Disney’s Frozen.

“Another key factor to the growth was our click and collect service meaning people can buy toys online and pick up in 30 minutes.

“The store itself definitely felt very busy throughout the Christmas period and we had to work very hard to ensure the store was stocked and that we kept up with demand.”

Bosses at Top Shop in Golden Square noticed a late surge in store after many Warrington customers made use of the new Collect At Store service, which was not in operation the Christmas before.

Lisa Parkinson, Top Shop brand manager, said: “Leading up to the last week before Christmas, business was steady but we had a concentrated fortnight the week before and week after when people could no longer rely on online orders reaching them in tim.

“The good thing about the Collect At Store service is that even if customers order online, they then come into store to collect, which means they often buy more things while they are here.”