High street revels in a nation of antler buyers: Lisa Vaughan discovers some curious best-sellers in the shops this Christmas

THIS has hardly been a festive season for retailers. Christmas arrived late - and has yet to make up for its slow start. But the nooks and crannies of the high street have proved home to the odd best-seller - in both senses of the word.

Take, for instance, Boots. Its surprise seasonal best-seller turns out to be fake antlers. The chemist reports reindeer antlers disappearing from the shelves faster than grouse from a moor in September. The clue to their popularity presumably lies in the price: at pounds 1 a time they are hardly dear - or even deer, being made of nine-inch, pink foam mounted on a green plastic headband.

Purchasers of this wacky headgear may be happy to learn that profits go to the Variety Club of Great Britain, the charity that helps disabled and disadvantaged children. A spokesman offers a bizarre vision of their popularity: 'They're selling like hot cakes.'

Meanwhile, British Home Stores is busy benefiting from the wave of hippy nostalgia. Remember those lamps with blobs of coloured oil inside, or the ones with waving fluorescent antennae? Oil Art has brought out its own 1990s version for pounds 4.99.

Currys Superstores is pinning its hopes for a Yuletide boost on a dog-loving couch potato. The cuddly TV Hound solves the dilemma of where to store the remote control and your favourite TV listings magazine. The soft toy beagle, costing pounds 9.99, lies flat on the arm of a chair with hanging pockets to hold TV accoutrements. 'This item is flying out of Currys Superstores,' a spokesman enthused.

Elsewhere on the main street, the clothier Austin Reed says animal ties are the 'in' thing. Its popular designs this season include a woven Scotty Dog tie ( pounds 25), a Black Watch Tartan pattern tie with teddy bears subtly worked in ( pounds 19.95) and one with multi-coloured elephants ( pounds 19.95).

Cross-dressing continues to be as popular as ever. A men's item favoured by Austin Reed's female customers is a pounds 25 Baker Boy-style flat cap in multi-coloured tweed patchwork, like the one in the old Hovis bread advertisements.

H Samuel, the watchmaker and jeweller, is over the moon about its newly launched Kids Only range of jewellery, already beating sales targets. Bridging the teeny gap between child and adult, the line includes a 9-carat gold dinosaur pendant ( pounds 19.95), a Flintstones pendant ( pounds 13.95), and a Birthstone Bunny pendant ( pounds 14.99). A 'Forever Friends' ID bracelet created by Andrew Brownsword, a popular cutesie greeting card designer, is also going fast, with a price to match the designer label. At pounds 29.99, though, it's probably not the thing for your two-year-old niece.

But H Samuel's runaway best-seller and the final proof that this really is the couch potato's Christmas, is a Casio watch with TV and video remote control buttons. For pounds 49.99 you can turn the television on and off, adjust the volume, and change the channel, simply by twiddling a few buttons on the side on the watch.

The controls work on most infra-red televisions that use remote control. The watch is black plastic, with digital time display and alarm, and is ideal for the grazing addict. A spokesman said last week that the shops could not keep them on the shelves, although supplies should be replenished at the beginning of this week. 'But they're going fast.'

Stores too coy to reveal their best-sellers included Woolworths, which claims it will sell 200,000 turkey roasting tins and 200,000 fake Christmas trees.

Harrods in Knightsbridge will not say what is popular either, but suggests a few 'ultimate gifts' for the well-heeled: a diamond-studded dog collar ( pounds 7,500), a wooden ship (HMS Victory) in a glass and wooden cabinet ( pounds 3,550), or a Lalique cactus table ( pounds 37,800). For the financially strapped, try the Harrods golf tee for 10p or round dice for pounds 1.10.

Still, the prize for the weirdest Christmas success story of all must go to that famous department store in Oxford Street, Selfridges. It says its biggest surprise attraction this Christmas is its in-store restaurant, where profits are up 30 per cent.

(Photograph omitted)