Shoppers enjoy Boxing Day experience

Shoppers say the Boxing Day experience is worth the drawbacks.

Shoppers got an early start Friday in hopes of snagging the best Boxing Day deals.

One sales consultant told CTV News the early morning lineup for door crasher deals brought in the first big rush.

“There actually was a good line up for our door crashers. There was a big line around the store,” Amir Mohajery from Future Shop told CTV News.

An online survey commissioned by cash-back shopping site Ebates.ca found that about 40 per cent of Canadians plan to shop on Boxing Day, with most planning to buy clothing (69 per cent) followed by electronics (63 per cent), said general manager Adrienne Down Coulson. When the same question was posed about Black Friday and Cyber Monday in November, the categories were reversed.

Down Coulson said while participating in Black Friday and Cyber Monday promotions is "much less optional" for Canadian companies today, she doesn't foresee a huge impact on Boxing Day.

"Boxing Day is still one of the biggest shopping days if not the biggest shopping day in Canada. So as a retailer, they've got to be aggressive if they're going to compete," she said.

"The consumer wins. Pretty much anything is on sale all the time."

Many shoppers said the experience was worth the headache.

“The lines and the people make it almost not worthwhile then you get some stuff and you are excited,” Nathan smiled.

“I have never seen it this busy before,” Jesse said.

“I love the experience.”

Mohajery said although online shopping was becoming more of an attraction, retail stores still had something to offer.

“I do believe the best deals will be in the store.”

With files from Kelsey Nichols, The Canadian Press