THE BARGAIN HUNTER

I THOUGHT I'd landed the dream assignment when the boss asked me to hit the high street and hunt down Scotland's hottest bargains.

Slipping my trusty Visa card into my handbag I set off to sniff out the sale of the century - and then he gave me the rest of the brief.

My objective was to find the HIDDEN bargains behind the price tag, by haggling, negotiating and generally chancing my luck with sales staff.

Are the prices of High Street retailers set in stone or is it possible to talk your way to a brilliant deal?

On my list were mobile phone firm Vodafone, department store John Lewis, designer clothes shops Cake and Tribal Junki, electrical stores Comet, Dixons and PC World, specs giant Optical Express and photography chain Jessops.

Armed only with old-fashioned cheek and blagging power I set off to put Scotland's shops to the test...

DIXONS

MY first stop was in Glasgow's Argyle Street where I feasted my eyes on a 32-inch widescreen TV priced at pounds 1,000.

It wasn't long before I caught the attention of the manager who came over to suss out my buying potential. After declaring my love for the TV set in question, I tentatively broached the subject of a discount, explaining that I couldn't afford to pay the full price.

But he refused to budge, saying that all Dixon's prices were fixed at a national level leaving sales staff with no margin for bargaining. It transpired that Comet, PC World, Next and photography store Jessops all fit into this category - and so were all crossed off my list.

As I left the shop I wondered whether this would be the first knock-back of many. I felt defeated, but decided to try a few more shops before going back to the office to file a mission-impossible style story.

But then suddenly I found my luck was changing...

VODAFONE

MY next stop was Vodafone, again in Argyle Street, where I spotted a funky flip-top Panasonic with built-in digital camera and e-mail at pounds 150.

After a 10-minute consultation with sales advisor Fabiana Sharp I went in for the kill and said the phone was a bit out of my price range.

To my amazement she replied: "Let's see. We could probably give you the phone for pounds 99." Result. A whopping 30 per cent discount.

I asked Fabiana whether she would always entertain the high- street haggler. She said: "Every scenario is different, but if a customer is having financial problems we will always try and be flexible."

JOHN LEWIS

I DECIDED to go for a top quality hoover and set about scanning the latest Dyson models, hoping to dust off the pounds 288 price tag into something more affordable.

Noting my interest, salesman Tommy Strang went over the operating instructions, no doubt sensing he had a sale in the bag.

We hadn't talked hard cash up to now so I subtly threw the word "expensive" into the dialogue.

Suddenly my dream Dyson was being offered to me at pounds 254 - a reduction of pounds 34. Not as impressive as my mobile phone deal, but a victory for cheeky consumers nonetheless.

OPTICAL EXPRESS

SETTING my sights on a new pair of glasses I headed for Optical Express in Sauchiehall Street.

Knowing the fierce competition that exists between the growing army of High Street opticians I thought I might just be in with a chance.

But it took a lot of persuasion - I even pretended to walk away at one point - but manager Yvonne Liddell eventually agreed to knock a tenner off a pounds 170 pair of Dolce & Gabbana designer frames. It wasn't much, but at least I had got her to budge from the original price.TRIBAL JUNKI

IT was time to check out some of Glasgow's top independent clothes stores. Tribal Junki is an ultra-cool clothes shop in the trendy Merchant City district.

A quick look around told me there was leftover sale stock which staff would be keen to get rid off. When I picked up a pink DSL tracksuit top and saw the pounds 45 price tag I felt confident I could get if for much less.

Sure enough when I suggested pounds 20 the sales advisor said: "You can take it home for pounds 25." Another triumph.

Manager Kevin Dornan admitted not all his prices are set in stone. He said: "It would be stupid to reduce the price on new range items. But if it's stock I've had for a few seasons it's likely I will bring my price down."

CAKE

BUOYED by my success I headed for designer store Cake in the city's west end with a view to designing my own price tag.

At the cash desk, weighed down with a fur-trimmed black Parker jacket, I questioned the pounds 70 cost with a growing sense of confidence in my justice-for-shoppers crusade.

"I'll take it down to pounds 55 for you," part-owner Ian Hutchison said.

Later he told me: "Never, ever pay the full price for anything. Always negotiate. Only last week I bought a suite from Reid Furniture. It was priced at pounds 5,000. I talked them into giving me it for pounds 3,200."

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