CHESHIRE Oaks saw an massive 60% increase in last-minute Christmas shoppers.

More than 97,000 bargain-hungry shoppers flocked to the centre in the four days leading-up to Christmas, with 21,000 of them searching the mall for gifts on Christmas Eve.

That grand total of visitors to the designer outlet village was 60% up on the same period last year.

Sales in the centre’s 141 stores increased all through the 10 weeks leading up to Christmas, with shoppers taking advantage of discounts of up to 50% on brands such as Gap, Polo Ralph Lauren and Marks & Spencer.

Savvy shoppers have now also been taking advantage of the outlet’s winter clearance in which selected stock throughout the centre has discounts of up to 70%.

New stores at the centre including Mulberry and Pilgrim provided last-minute shoppers with even more gift ideas.

Cheshire Oaks general manager Chris Burke said: “It’s great news for the centre and the local economy in general.

“It’s encouraging to see our shopping centre continues to attract more visitors year on year during the Christmas period.”

As well as its array of stores, Cheshire Oaks has been wowing the visitors with its own ice rink and a machine which created a snowfall every day until Christmas.

Les Lyon, manager of the Port Arcades, said: “Visitor numbers have been very positive, it’s been a strong Christmas for us.

“There was more people coming through the Arcades than in any of the last six years because this is the first Christmas where no building work and refurbishments were going on in the town centre and customers felt confident enough to drive in and get a parking space.

“Also, the slow attraction of the new market and Asda has extended our appeal. It reflects the growing popularity of the town centre.”

A spokeswoman for the town’s Asda Supercentre said: “It’s been manic. On Christmas Eve we took more than 50% more than that day the previous year.

“And when we re-opened on Thursday, we also took nearly double on last year. We were much busier than expected.”

Staff at Sainsburys on Cheshire Oaks said they’d “had a good Christmas” too.