In Bury a large CeX store, its windows crammed with cut price gadgets and banners boasting of 'buying stuff for cash' seems unnaturally quiet. The last time I visited, just before Christmas, the store was steady with shoppers desperate to save money on their Christmas presents.
Many people suggested to me that the store would see an influx of customers post lockdown. But as food prices, petrol and energy bills continue to rocket, it seems even bargains and second-hand goods are becoming a luxury people just can't justify buying, as shoppers struggled to pay full price for consumer items.
Auditor David Lord, 50, is among the handful of customers in-store and comes out clutching a few Blu-ray DVDs. He shows them to me saying: "These Blu-rays would cost £30 to £40 at HMV, here they are £1 each.
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"Online they would have been £7 or £8 each, so that is the difference and I have a receipt for these items, so I could take them back if I needed."
I ask if his bargain hunting is fuelled by the surging cost of living prices and he nods miserably, "It's terrible," he says. "Gas, electricity and the cost of food is going up. I have noticed food at Aldi going up by 10p and 15p - soon they will be close to the prices in other supermarkets.
"But wages are not going up - and we have to choose: do we eat or heat? - it is squeeze, squeeze, squeeze. It's like living in a third world country," he says, shaking his head in despair.
"It's a different situation even from five years ago. We are living in a very dark and unpleasant place and I don't see a turning point happening any time soon."
He gestures to the DVDs in his hand, all costing just a few pounds, and admits: "These DVDs may be a luxury I can't afford by April."
Inside, store Manager Chris Gillett, 29, paints a similarly bleak picture - recalling how one customer ran in just as they were shutting the shop.
He says: "A man had come to sell his phone and was panicking as he had had his electricity cut off but we were closing the store. I don't know what happened to him or if he managed to get electricity."
Chris says that while he seen an increase in people bringing in items to sell, paying customers have thinned out - seemingly as people struggle to spend. As I look around the store, the neat, gleaming aisles are almost completely empty and we are able to stand and chat uninterrupted at the tills.
He says: "After Christmas, following Covid, the store picked up a bit as people were venturing out a bit more. But then it quietened down and now, as far as customers buying items is concerned, it's really quiet.
"People are not coming in to buy as much, but lots of people are selling items - consoles, phones and tablets. People are bringing in plenty of games, but you don't get as much money for them."
A few doors down, looking in the shop window of Mays Pawnbrokers and Jewellers is mum-of-eight Julie Hill, 53, who is shopping with her daughter-in-law. I ask her if she has ever taken any items in herself and dejectedly, she says she has - and says often she has not been able to buy them back.
She hooks her fingers into a gold pendant she is wearing and tells me: "See this, my fella bought it for me and I had to pawn it. I brought it in and then I bought it back, but I could not get the chain back."
I ask her how she felt trading treasured items for money.
"I felt degraded," she says sadly, "Especially if you see anyone you know when you are coming out of the shop - but I needed to buy food and electricity, there was just no money. I have lost quite a lot of stuff over the years and so has my husband, I feel gutted when it is stuff bought to me as presents.
"You think you will be able to get the money to buy it back, but then it's another week, and another week, and another week....." her voice trails off. "I see the price of gold now," she says, and I think "Flipping Heck, I wish I had that now."
I ask her if she thinks she may have to bring jewellery back again to a pawnbrokers but she says she hopes not.
"I don't have as many kids at home now, " she says, "I'm hoping I won't have to come back here again."
Leroy Talbot, 74, from Salford tells me he is "old school" and likes to shop around for cheaper prices. He travels to Bury to visit the market and shops in stores like Cex to buy tools and phones.
"You might find a bargain," he says. But he adds: "At one time I could buy a television set for £90 and now that has doubled."
A jar of his favourite honey has risen from £2 to £2.30 in months, he says. He is scathing about the state of the country, and the rising costs of living, saying about the government: "They don't care about the people.
"England at one time used to be a country for the people. Now, it's like people are a commodity. Politicians are the biggest crooks in the world. It has got worse - but what can you do?"
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