Sales fever hit Watford High Street on Saturday with thousands of people queueing for Blue Cross Day at Clements department store.

When the doors opened shortly before 8.30am, the queue, brandishing a colourful array of umbrellas, stretched for almost 200 yards along the High Street.

As the bargain hunters tried to shelter from the rain, handbills with a list of the sale goods were handed out like menus.

Shoppers rushed into the store when the central doors were unlocked, on the lookout for the Blue Cross bargains, reduced to half of their usual sale price. By nine o’clock, 10,000 people had poured in.

As fast as the front of the queue disappeared into the store, extra shoppers tagged on to the end and it was almost half an hour before the whole queue had gone in and the rest of the doors could be opened.

Within five minutes of the opening, the first survivor emerged from the fray clutching his spoils – a pair of continental quilts.

Clements’ general manager Mr Tony Quint confirmed that the bedding department had been one of the most popular during the day, together with the carpeting section.

Many of the first shoppers also made straight for the luggage and struggled out of the packed store with large suitcases.

Mr Quint praised the work of the store’s 500 staff, many of whom were taken on just for the day.

“They were brilliant. It was a long day for them, until six o’clock, but they were superb,” he said.

“It was an absolutely marvellous day, an all-time record for a Blue Cross Day.”

[From the Watford Observer of February 1, 1985]