THE recession showed no sign of biting in Jersey yesterday as most town stores recorded strong sales during the first night of Christmas trading.

As stores in the UK face up to one of the worst Christmas periods for years, Islanders shrugged off fears of economic gloom and turned out in their thousands for the first day of late-night shopping and the start of the Fête dé Noué. De Gruchy’s, Voisins, M&S and HMV were among the stores which enjoyed a strong night of trading. But the star of the night was beleaguered Woolworths, which recorded a 500 per cent increase in sales on last year.

Ray Shead, vice-president of the Chamber of Commerce, told the JEP this morning: ‘I was always cautiously optimistic about last night, and I’m extremely pleased that so many stores enjoyed a good night of trading. The event wasn’t just about shopping, either. It was a good community event.’

De Gruchy’s, which held an invitation-only night, said that sales were up on last year. More than 1,100 invitations were handed in during the night, compared to just 850 last year. Store manager Nicola Taylor said: ‘Encouragingly, sales were up on last year. We have some very loyal customers and they supported us very well last night. We are cautiously optimistic about the rest of the Christmas period.’

• Picture: Thousands turned out for the launch of the Fête dé Noué and late-night shopping