Supermarket giants Aldi and Lidl have announced they will shut their stores early on Sunday if England reach the World Cup final.
The budget stores revealed the news ahead of Wednesday's semi final against Croatia.
A spokesman for Aldi said: "If England reach the World Cup Final - sorry, when England reach the World Cup Final - we're gonna close all our stores in England early at 3pm on Sunday, July 15.
"We want our colleagues to be the 12th man cheering on the lads."
As the *official* supermarket of the England Football team, let's make *this* announcement official... *when* our boys make it to the final this Sunday, it will be early doors across our English stores. #3pmClosing#ItsComingHome pic.twitter.com/k81iDwxRGt
— Lidl UK (@LidlUK) July 9, 2018
Lidl UK chief executive Christian Hartnagel said: “As the official supermarket of the England football team, we absolutely believe it’s coming home, which is why we are planning to close stores an hour early, and take part in what we hope will become a day of national celebration.”
Figures suggest the early closures are likely to be of little concern to shoppers, with footfall on the high street down 18.9 per cent during England’s quarter final clash with Sweden on Saturday afternoon.
Meanwhile, Marks & Spencer is encouraging the nation to support the team by wearing waistcoats on “#waistcoatwednesday” in a nod to Gareth Southgate’s pitch-side attire.
The Three Lions manager has sported a navy blue Marks & Spencer one throughout England’s run to the World Cup semi-finals in Russia, which has led to increased sales and more Google searches for the item back home.
M&S said waistcoat sales had doubled since the tournament began on June 14, with website searches up by over 100 per cent.
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