THOUSANDS of shoppers, attracted by huge discounts, last night flooded stores across the island participating in the Jamaica Observer’s celebration of Fashion’s Night Out.

The sea of humanity packing the stores and on the plazas in Kingston, and the traffic jamming the thoroughfare have become a feature of the five-hour shopping blitz now in its third consecutive year in Jamaica.

“Yow, you naah come a Fashion Night Out?” a female security guard shouted into her cellular phone in The Springs Plaza along Constant Spring Road in Half-Way-Tree, St Andrew. “Out yah ram.”

Music blared from stores and some establishments provided refreshment for customers.

Shoppers started making their way to their favourite stores hours before the 5:00 pm kick-off of the much-anticipated mega sale event.

At House of Style in the Pavillion Mall in Half-Way-Tree, customers started streaming in at 10:00 am. The store owners obliged and gave the customers a 10 per cent discount up until 5:00 pm when the markdown was 20 per cent. This did not, however, take away from the evening sale.

“At five o’clock customers just started streaming in,” said assistant store manager Christine Campbell.

Across the walkway, Pavillion Jewellers, which was offering a 60 per cent discount on jewellery, reported steady sales and said they anticipated that by the end of the night they would see record sales.

“By 10 o’clock I think it will be a good day and I think it will be better than last year,” store owner Gul Mansukhani told the Observer.

Mansukhani said that Pavillion Jewellers, along with its sister store, the Jewellery Collection in the nearby Twin Gates Plaza will be running the sale until Saturday.

His only complaint was that the event should be held on a weekend.

Over at Payless Shoes Source in The Springs Plaza, there was a great buzz of activity. “It’s our first time participating and it has been good. We are looking forward to next year,” said store manager Patrice Grizzle.

Some stores, such as the Puma outlet in Tropical Plaza and several others had to have security guards checking the flow of shoppers. Maxie Department Store was overflowing with shoppers and there was virtually no parking space left in the plazas at 7:00 pm.

“It has been going fine so far,” said shopper Llamanda Davis, a student nurse. As she spoke she held a ceiling fan beneath her arm which she just purchased from the Courts store along Constant Spring Road. “Now I going to walk to find some other stuff I need,” she said.

For the most part the event was incident-free, according to Inspector Yvonne Williams, who was speaking in respect to the Half-Way-Tree area. “Everything is safe so far. We really hope it will stay that way.”

In Ocho Rios, the resort town was buzzing with activity last night with hundreds of shoppers making purchases in participating stores along Main Street.

Shoppers eager to cash in on discounts started crowding several stores, including Maxie, Joseph’s and Bascho, even before the 5:00 pm start of the sale hours.

Shoppers were obviously excited about discounts on clothing, household items and accessories.

“FNO is really good. I’m getting good discounts on clothing and accessories,” said Nicole Brown, who lives in St Mary and who was seen in Joseph’s. “I think this is something they should have at least every month.”

In Montego Bay, retailers reported that they have done fairly well.

Anthony Pearson, manager of Lloyd’s Department Store on St James Street, said he was satisfied as shoppers started packing the store from as early as 5:00 pm.

Sandra Williams of Maxie Department Store in Fairview Plaza said she started offering discounts from yesterday morning and reported that sales were better than last year.

Williams commended the Observer for the initiative, saying that it helps to stimulate the economy and leaves both customers and retailers happy.

Despite a shower of rain at about 8:00 pm, shoppers were still packing stores in the tourist resort city at 9:00 pm.