BARGAIN hunters emptied the shelves at North-East branches of Woolworths yesterday after the high street stalwart launched its biggest-ever sale.

Queues stretched across stores yesterday as prices were slashed by up to 50 per cent on the first day of the on-going sale, which was announced by administrators Deloitte, who were appointed last month after the retailer announced it was insolvent.

Neville Kahn, joint administrator and reorganisation services partner at Deloitte, said: “We anticipate increased footfall in the stores and have hired additional staff to cope with increased demand.

“Additional goods have been moved to all stores and further stock will be added in the coming days.

“There is continuing interest in the core Woolworths business and the sale will continue while potential buyers finalise their plans for the purchase of the business.”

The administrators have also announced 450 redundancies at Woolworths’ support operations at Marylebone Road, London, and Castleton, Rochdale. There have been no redundancies in the high street stores and distribution centres.

Deloitte has said it plans to keep Woolworths’ 800- plus stores open over the festive season, but doubts remain over the future of thousands of jobs. The Woolworths group employs about 30,000 staff, with about 25,000 working in retail.