Wycombe stores were quieter than usual this year, with many buying what they needed or stocking up on festive decorations for next year.
John Lewis at Handy Cross often draws big crowds for the Boxing Day sales, but there were no queues to get into the car park this year.
While the car park and shop were busy, a sales associate said it was “quite quiet for the first time.
“A lot quieter than it was last year.”
One shopper, Eleanore Brown, was browsing the now-reduced festive section looking for “Christmas things for next year to put away.”
She said: “I have done online shopping already.”
Another shopper, Venice Betts, in the homeware section, came to the store looking for a new toaster as her current one was no longer working well.
She said: “We were waiting for the sales.”
She was also planning to look around the store once she had found her new toaster.
The Eden Centre was also quieter than usual this year, with parking easy to find and few crowds in shops.
Irena who was shopping in Søstrene Grene was buying festive wrapping paper in preparation for next year.
She said it was “amazing value and why not.”
She added that some of the gift bags she was buying were multi-purpose and could also be used for birthdays.
Each shop prepared differently for the Boxing Day sales, and there were significant differences in which were busy.
JD Sport were prepared for the queues and instituted a policy of no refunds until 29 December as they take twice as long to process as sales.
A sales associate said that this was the same policy as previous years and is clearly indicated on receipts.
She said: “Queues are too long otherwise.”
One customer in the shop said that they had come to the shop because they needed new clothes.
When asked if they were waiting for the sales, they said the sales were a bonus, but the reason was that they had just been paid.
Contrastingly, a sales associate in Schuh said that the store was “not as busy as last year.”
They started their sales before Boxing Day, but that did not increase footfall.
“People do not come for the sale. Everyone is shopping online.”
One said that they believed the cost of living was also to blame for the decreased footfall, stating that people do not have as much money in their pockets.
A quieter High Wycombe echoes the national picture of decreased footfall.
Footfall at the UK’s retail destination declined by 22.1% on Boxing Day since last year.
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