IMAGINE the surprise - there you are, going quietly about your shopping and wishing away the endless queues when, suddenly, ear-splitting alarm bells ring, bright lights begin flashing and jazz music fills the air around you! No, it's not a weird dream, but actually a surprise celebration for the 15 millionth shopper to walk through the doors at Freeport Outlet Village in Fleetwood.
And Angela Cole, from The Strand in Fleetwood, admitted she was "stunned" at being customer number 15,000,000, especially considering she has won the holiday of a lifetime to America.
Amid the popping of champagne corks Angela, who is a receptionist with the Halifax Building Society in Fleetwood, was told she and husband Stewart will receive an all-expenses-paid luxury weekend at one of the USA's most famous shopping and tourist venues: Freeport, in the New England state of Maine.
Angela couldn't contain her surprise as she learned of her prize and was handed a fistful of dollars - $1,000 in fact - to spend in the American shopping town that attracts four million customer annually. Sipping a glass of celebratory bubbly Angela exclaimed: "I am absolutely stunned at the idea of going to America. I have always wanted to go there and so has Stewart, but this is beyond my wildest dreams. I am very much a regular shopper at Fleetwood - in fact I just love shopping."
She and Stewart will be jetting off in May for a drive through the Maine desert and a three-hour Atlantic cruise, before being let loose in the shops of Freeport, this time USA-style.
Freeport Fleetwood manager David Whitfield said he had hoped all along that someone from The Fylde would be the 15 millionth customer: "We always hoped one of our regular customers would win and we are delighted Angela is, but it nearly didn't happen.
"The person in front and behind her were from Wigan and Warrington, so it just shows how far people are travelling to shop in Fleetwood."
Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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