Lessons Learned from Boxing Day

For the first time, ever I woke up early to go for Boxing Day shopping. I had done Black Friday this past November and was amazed at the number of deals. Most stores went all out! I was disappointed with the sales that were available for Boxing Day. I was not in the market for electronics so I was interested in clothing sales and kitchenware.

Lessons Learned from Boxing Day Shopping

1. Buy your electronics on Boxing Day - televisions, computers, etc.

2. Sometimes... Black Friday is better - Many of the deals are comparable, sometimes better on Black Friday - best to do your shopping then.

3. Go early for parking - Parking lots were FULL at major shopping malls within one hour of opening - otherwise you'll spend at least 20 minutes + half an hour trying to look for a spot, and then another 20 minutes to half an hour trying to exit the parking lot.

4. Go early for door crashers - When I went to the shopping mall some places had 50% off the entire store until noon and some deals were time limited (e.g. chance to get 70% off your purchase before 11 am at Le Chateau).

5. Browse flyers online FIRST so you don't end up wasting time wandering around while the item you want is flying off the shelf. You can go to Red Flag Deals Boxing Day site as they usually have boxing flyer deals all in one place for you to browse.

6. Many of your favourite stores don't do Boxing Day - They usually have a section of substandard items that would have been on sale anyway. For me it would include Aritizia, Apple, and IKEA. I still browsed around anyway.

7. Don't bother with boxing day in stores unless you have something specific you are looking for: The crowds, lack of sleep, irritability of other shoppers and the subtle feeling that you overpay every other day of the year makes the experience not worth it. A lot of stores offer boxing day deals online so you can shop at the comfort of your own home.

I shopped from 6 am to 11:30 am and it was an okay experience. I would have preferred to slee pin.

Futureshop

I've been staying at my parents place and got very little sleep because the rabbits were loud and my relatives were loud at night too. I woke up at 4:30 am and my brother and I headed out to Futureshop at 5 am in the morning. We decided against going to Best Buy because we figured it would be busier. That was certainly a novelty for me. The deals on televisions were amazing! $399 for televisions worth over $600. I know next time I get any electronic it will be on boxing day.

Walmart

We headed over to Walmart where patrons were clamoring to get inside (it really did look like a scene from the Walking Dead):

What we thought would happen:

What actually happened:

Parking and Shopping Sherway Gardens [large mall]

The only place at 7:30 am that had a line into the store was actually Lululemon. When I had been to Sherway Gardens two years ago on Boxing Day, there were lineups to all the major stores: Michael Kors, Apple, Abercrombie and Fitch, Tiffany&co etc. The line outside Lululemon today, was wrapped all the way around the storefront:

I imagine the lack of lines and ease of finding a parking spot was specifically because I arrived at the mall 30 minutes after it opened (7:30 am). It still took me 20 minutes to find a parking spot (in a non-nose bleeder area). Last year when I went it took some people over an hour to find a parking spot in a really far off location. 

In conclusion, I would do it again if I were looking for electronics. Boxing day actually extends into Boxing week, there are very few good "Boxing Day only" deals. 

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