THUNDER BAY -- A little snow and ice couldn't keep Boxing Day bargain shoppers down.
A lineup of over 70 people spanned the edge of Best Buy by the time the big box electronics store opened at 6 a.m. on Dec. 26.
They came despite an Environment Canada winter storm warning that persisted into Sunday morning, including five to 10 centimetres of snow still forecasted to come, along with ice pellets or freezing rain.
Jordan Greseh had been waiting in the lineup since since 2:30 a.m. to spend $800 on a television because he'd be saving $500, an online deal that had been left out of the flyer because there were so few left.
"There's only three of them. We're going to get them all," he said.
Most shoppers weren't so eager as Greseh, arriving around 30 minutes before the doors opened.
Fifteen people back in the line, Devon and Austin Jaklitch also had plans to bring home a new television set.
"Austin saw it. He wanted it. I said, 'sure I'll tag along.' It was the worst decision of my life," Devon said.
"It's too early, it's too cold. I was up at 3 a.m. to drive my wife to work so I was up anyway but I would have rather gone back to bed."
Boxing Day became Boxing Week across the retail industry a few years ago but this year, some companies began Boxing Day sales before Christmas Day.
Best Buy manager Joey Miceli said the traffic at 6 a.m. in difficult weather showed customers are still willing to brave the elements to get the deals.
"We're actually doing our Boxing Day sale on Boxing Day and we've got Boxing Day sales throughout the rest of the week," he said.
"I would say it's still working. I don't know what the impact is but people seem to love to line up, seem to love to come to our store and love the experience we provide to them on this day."
