The massive gamble by the big Dublin department stores to open for the first time on St Stephen's Day paid off handsomely with an astonishing spending spree.

Thousands of shoppers thronged Dublin — easily surpassing footfall figures for the 2008 sales and reflecting a marked upturn in consumer confidence.

It was icing on the Christmas cake for retailers who ended the toughest year's trading since the Eighties on something of a high, which should ensure the threat of significant job losses in the new year has eased.

X Factor stars Jedward brought Dublin's Henry Street to a standstill in the early hours of Saturday morning, allegedly pocketing £18,000 to open the Arnotts sale, where one woman had braved sub-zero temperatures for 22 hours.

Arnotts, Clerys, Debenhams, Brown Thomas and House of Frazer all broke with the tradition of staying closed on December 26 with staff volunteering to break their Christmas holiday early.

On the southside of the River Liffey at Brown Thomas there were dozens of people queuing in-store throughout the morning to grab a bargain accessory. More than 1,200 people were outside the Grafton Street store when it opened at 10am.

Prada, Louis Vuitton, Fendi and Mulberry leather bags proved irresistible with some down from £1,300 to £630.

Brown Thomas managing director Stephen Sealey said he was heartened by the response.

“We have discounted more deeply than ever before. We have less stock on our inventory and the sale should be short and sharp. We have seen so much interest in our spring and summer collection that we will start the the new year with confidence. We had a long queue before it got light this morning,” he said.

Typical of the frenetic stockpiling of designer accessories were two friends, Ying Ying Guan and Jane Shen, who were on the hunt for Prada and Louis Vuitton accessories.

“I love Prada,” said Jane.

Another big attraction for Johanna Maher, home on holidays from London, was shoes by the Spanish-born British designer Manolo Blahnik.

Over at Arnotts, early bargain hunters who spent all night queuing outside the store bagged 42 inch |flat-screen televisions reduced to just £90.

The Grimes twins John and Edward, who took the X Factor by storm, opened the 2009 Christmas sale and had hundreds of teenage fans screaming their undying devotion.

That was the teenage daughters catered for as mum hit the homewares department.

For the dads, on duty as bag carriers, there was racing and Premiership football on the big screens at the Arnotts sports bar — once Jedward had concluded a marathon autograph-signing session.