THUNDER BAY -- The stockings and gifts under the tree are all well and good for the children on Christmas Day but on Boxing Day, mom and dad are looking for the knockout purchases.
A crowd of between 25 and 30 people waited into the Saturday morning light outside the Power Centre for its doors to open, some snapping smartphone photos of the electronics outlet's flyer taped to its door.
The sales representatives working on commission reeled shoppers in with a handshake as the crowd streamed through the entrance. Stacks of giant televisions in the showroom vanished in minutes.
"Every year, we think it's going to be the same but it seems to grow and grow," said salesman Jessy Joupil, who is trading 80 per cent of his Christmas paycheck to his employer for his own piece of Boxing Day deals.
Tradition is evolving in some households to make Christmas gifts more quaint and wait out on expensive purchases until the annual end-of-year clearance that is increasingly being called 'Boxing Week.'
"All of our friends do it," said Raven Sutherland as she waited in line outside of the Power Centre for a new TV, phones and a console for her children.
"Save money, don't spend much on Christmas. Just buy a few minimal gifts and spend the majority of it on Boxing Day."
The traffic was also high at Intercity Mall, most so at electronics, gaming and lingerie stores where Christmas Day gift cards met price-slashing sales.
The camera new mother Katie Berube had hoped to buy herself was already out of stock by the time she arrived but she kept on shopping anyway. She said her family is new to hosting smaller Christmases and bigger Boxing Days and she's enjoying the adjustment.
"We actually just decided this year that we were going to do that," she said.
"We normally go for little things. We've got too many big things and we can't afford it after Christmas, especially now that we have a little one."
Just as with Christmas shopping, there are the unwilling victims of family members' consuming fever who are along for the ride. Raelene Olson's husband was buying a cell phone on sale but as she wandered the mall, she wasn't moved by the sales.
"They're not that great," she said.
"If you're not looking for a TV, if you're just looking for clothes or regular items, it's not that great."
