Shoppers enjoy first time Boxing Day experience

Boxing Day is a shopping tradition for many Canadians, but for one group of people, it’s their first time participating in the day of deals.

Ayush Ahua and Bhavya Nagbl woke up at 6:30 a.m. with their friends to be first in line at Regina’s Prince of Wales Best Buy.

Ahua is hunting for an iPhone, while Nagbl hopes to snag headphones.

“If we get a lot of deals then we are going to spend a lot of money on our credit cards, not from debit,” Ahua said with a laugh.

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It’s the group’s first time Boxing Day shopping. They were hoping to be first in line but Nagbl almost slept in.

“We have to kick his butt for that,” said one of his friends.

Thankfully, the group arrived early with plenty of time to spare before the doors opened at 8 a.m.

“For coming here (this early) I request them to gift me earphones,” Nagbl said with a laugh.

He said it’s also his first winter in Canada and after shopping, he plans to shovel snow.

Rahman Baig, who moved to Canada from Pakistan, was eager to buy cameras and a drone for his family back home.

“I will check which one is the best deal so I can buy it,” he said.

He was happy to see that the line wasn’t too long when he arrived.

“Two or three years ago people were here at 4:00 a.m. and big line, now it’s easier because there’s no big rush,” Baig said.

He shops on Boxing Day every year to stock up on gifts for future holidays.

Courtney Bacon was up bright and early to get in line at Best Buy, she has her eyes on a new pair of headphones.

She doesn’t always shop on Boxing Day but said the deals were too good to pass up.

“Today I decided the headphones I wanted were a really good deal so today was the best day to do it,” Bacon said.

Despite massive sales like Black Friday before Christmas, she said Boxing Day is still worth the hype.

“It really depends on what you want,” she said. “If you find it really is a better deal and you’ve been watching (the sales) then I think it is worth the hype.”

Best Buy staff excited for Boxing Day

Zachary Bonk, assistant store leader of operations at Best Buy, said staff love to work on Boxing Day.

“After Christmas, everybody has all their money from their parents and their family, its one of our busiest days,” he said.

The store is open from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. and all staff are scheduled for a shift, according to Bonk.

“We have like 80 staff today, so our full staff is here,” he said.

“There’s people also overnight, who were working, getting the store ready for us, making sure the price is good to go, and making sure all of our orders are pending for you to pick up.”

He said the hot items in the store are mobile devices, laptops and televisions.