Calgary’s biggest mall expects more than 100,000 shoppers will make their way through its doors on Boxing Day 2017.
On Tuesday, CF Chinook Centre manager Page O’Neill said big crowds were at the mall as soon as it opened at 8 a.m.
“There’s been lineups at Lululemon, Pandora and Canada Goose, however, I would say one of our biggest lineups this morning was Starbucks,” O’Neill laughed.
At Best Buy in Calgary’s northeast, people tried to wrestle their new flat screens into their vehicles. For them, the savings was worth a little creative manoeuvring.
“Because it’s an open box and it’s on sale, its supposed to be $805 but I got it for $560!” savvy shopper Robin Maranda said.
But Boxing Day might soon see some serious competition for people’s hard-earned dollars.
“The last three or four years we’ve definitely seen the growth of Black Friday in Canada,” Jeff Novak with Redflagdeals.com said. “Five years ago, most people didn’t know about Black Friday, but in the last two or three years specifically, we’ve seen a bit of a shift.”
Online shopping, as well as the extension of Boxing Day sales, could also see fewer people in stores on Dec. 26.
“What we find, actually, is Boxing Day turns into Boxing Week and that turns into Boxing Month,” O’Neill said. “So if people aren’t able to get out today, the sales continue throughout the month of January.”
But there are those Boxing Day purists willing to battle the crowds and congestion in order to find a deal.
“I drove around the parking lot for 45 minutes,” said shopper Jeff Carlos. “Everybody’s here, everybody’s doing it.”
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