Shropshire traders were bracing themselves for a bumper day today with shoppers expected to turn out for one of the busiest shopping day of the year.

And the rest of the run-up to Christmas is expected to continue to be busy.

Nationally the consumer fightback against the recession has been gathering further pace with greater numbers of shoppers visiting major retail stores than this time last year.

Nicholas Pitt, manager of the Darwin, Pride Hill and Riverside Shopping Centres in Shrewsbury, said: “People seem to be spending slightly more per transaction in certain areas.

At least three retailers have said they are significantly up on last year already. Today is going to be one of the busiest days but I’m expecting Saturday to be busier.”

John Hall, chairman of Shop in the Loop in Shrewsbury, said trade was strong for a number of shops in the town and today was expected to be “very busy”.

He said: “This time of year every day is extremely busy and year on year it seems to get busier. The footfall has been very good. From our point of view it’s been considerably up and some shops are extremely busy.”

But Chris Jones, centre manager at Telford Shopping Centre, was more cautious.

He said: “We aren’t expecting it to be a wonderful Christmas in terms of trade, but plenty of people are still coming in. They are, however, spending less.

“We expect it to heat up a bit as we get closer to Christmas. It won’t be as extravagant as it was a couple of years ago, though. Couples particularly are holding back on their spending as nobody wants that credit card bill coming in at the end of January.”