BEALES sold 900 Bradley designer handbags, almost 5,000 pairs of pillows and more than 1,200 duvets as hundreds of queuing shoppers gave the company its biggest-ever day’s sales.

The one night only sale ran on Thursday evening at the department store’s 22 branches.

At its Bournemouth store, queues snaked around all sides of the shop and into the Arcade, although everyone got into the store within 15 minutes of the event beginning.

Beales said it sold 4,912 pillow pairs, 1,212 duvets, 900 Radley bags, 700 David Jones bags and 618 Skyflite suitcases. It shifted 102 robes, compared with a normal daily figure of between three and 11, plus 159 towel bales.

Shoppers also snapped up 500 men’s Trespass jackets, 200 women’s qulted jackets

In the electrical department, the stores sold 500 Tower irons, 400 buffet servers and 100 Kenwood mixers, while in the toy lines, it sold 30 Little Tikes kitchens.

Chief executive Tony Brown, who recently took control of the business in a management buyout, said on Friday morning: “A massive thank you to all our colleagues and customers who made last night’s One Night Only event a massive success across the country.

“It was, as we had hoped, the biggest day’s sales in our history.”