THUNDER BAY – Jordan Westra had ice frozen in his beard as he led the wave of shoppers through the doors of Best Buy on Boxing Day morning.
A lineup of about two dozen people braved frigid temperatures to stand in line outside the electronics retailer early Tuesday morning, with as many or more exiting the warmth of their cars to make their way inside the store when it opened at 6 a.m.
Westra, who had the lead spot in line, had been waiting outside for nearly four hours in conditions that prompted Environment Canada to extend its extreme cold warning for Thunder Bay.
“I’ve been trying to get a good deal on a 4K TV and one of the employees told me about a good deal. Whether or not it was true, we’ll see,” Westra said just before he made his way inside.
The early morning risers were subjected to temperatures around – 30C and windchills below – 40C as they waited to try to find deals.
Alex Armstrong, who said he goes out shopping almost every year, said he and his friends waited inside the comfort of their vehicle this year rather than standing outside.
“It’s something fun to do. It gives us a reason to get up early, get out of the house and see what kind of deals we can get,” Armstrong said. “We’ve found some stuff here over the last few years that were good deals so we thought we would check it out again this year.”
An hour later, a smaller group was bundled up and trying to keep warm as they waited for Leon’s to begin its Boxing Week sales.
Ray Dorval, who was near the front of the line with his wife, said they had been waiting about 40 minutes. While they were admittedly “pretty cold,” they devised a system where they would tag each other out every five minutes to defrost in their vehicle.
“That’s what it is, it’s all about bargain hunting,” Dorval said. “It’s Canada. They don’t do this in America. This is something that’s a Canadian thing so we come out here, embrace the cold and away we go.”
Jason Black said he planned to go store-by-store throughout the day, looking for either a TV or dishwasher.
The prospects of getting up to 40 per cent off is almost always too enticing to pass up, he added.
“It’s usually a tradition I do by myself,” Black said. “My wife and the kids are still sleeping at home. I like going out and seeing if there’s something out there because I feel like I’m missing something.”
Power Centre general manager Dave Radford said there was a lineup of people at the door and more waiting in their cars when the local electronics store opened.
"It seems to be the same every year," Radford said.
"I think a lot of us thought Black Friday was going to take away from Canada's Boxing Day and Boxing Week but that hasn't been the case."
