The Lothians’ only discounted shopping centre today said it is benefiting from the recession as bargain-hunting customers buy more cut-price designer goods. Livingston Designer Outlet said sales of designer brands surged by 45 per cent in the first three months of this year.

Among the shops benefiting are Ted Baker, Marks & Spencer Outlet, Cruise and Skechers, which all regularly slash up to 60 per cent off prices at their Livingston Designer Outlet stores.

In its 90 stores, the centre has seen sales rise by 2.2 per cent – in contrast to the sharp declines Scottish high streets have witnessed.

The rise in shopper numbers was even greater – up 2.5 per cent on the first quarter of last year.

Jim Bradley, facilities manager at Livingston Designer Outlet, said: "What we are seeing is people that are very aware of how important getting a good bargain is. We still find people want to buy quality and well-known brands but they are coming to places like this to try to spend less on them."

Latest figures from the Scottish Retail Consortium showed that year-on-year sales in Scottish stores are down by around 0.9 per cent.

Some of the major supermarkets have already been losing market share to low-cost rivals such as Lidl and Aldi as customers scale back spending.

Today’s data from Livingston covers a period that is traditionally the slowest time of the year for retailers, and Mr Bradley said he remains confident that the sales uplift can continue.

He added: "The indication is that our sector is robust enough to continue to perform well during the economic downturn and there is no reason that we shouldn’t view the rest of the year with optimism."

City centre stores have been having a much more difficult time, with the Edinburgh branch of John Lewis revealing today that sales slipped by 11.6 per cent in the ten weeks to April 11.

The St James Centre has continued to see increasing footfall – up five per cent over the first three months of this year compared to the same period last year – but it is unable to detail how that has impacted sales. A spokeswoman for the centre said: "Our retailers have remained positive on sales considering the climate, and we are now fully let which is encouraging."

By MICHAEL BLACKLEY

Source: Evening news, the edinburgh paper, 20 April 2009