Marks & Spencers kicked off its penny bazaar this morning and by 9am had served around 100,000 shoppers.

Marks & Spencer opened Christmas Penny Bazaars in 350 stores today with the earliest shoppers queuing from 6.00am.

M&S opened penny bazaars in May as part of its 125th birthday celebrations.

By midday, more than one million customers had visited M&S stores – more than twice the amount usually recorded for a Friday morning.

M&S sold 500,000 items priced at 1p in the first hour of opening, the equivalent of 138 items per second.

Shoppers descended on knickers, socks and Christmas chocolates in particular and M&S’ stores in Warrington Gemini, Marble Arch, Liverpool and Birmingham were among the busiest.

M&S chairman Sir Stuart Rose said: “We’ve had a great start to our Christmas Penny Bazaar, with over half a million 1p products sold in the first hour alone. Thanks to M&S, millions of people will be getting a little something extra in their Christmas Stockings this year – and all the profits are going to local charities.”

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