The crowds were out for this GST-free Boxing Day, ready to spend more than ever.
• Also read: Boxing Day demonstration at Carrefour Laval: police arrested a pro-Palestine leader
• Also read: Working at Christmas: nearly a million Quebecers are at work
“This is the busiest year in the last four or five. When it opened, there was a queue that we hadn’t seen for a long time,” says Nicolas Sauvé-Baril, manager of Sports Experts des Galeries Rive-Nord, in Repentigny.
The GST holiday on clothing, even with just a 5% reduction in prices, may have played a role. “People are buying a lot of winter coats today, and ski boots. People are preparing for the big season,” says the manager, who anticipates that traffic will continue “at least until 5:30 p.m. or 6 p.m..”
“There are really a lot of people compared to last year. People want to buy and it shows. From 1 p.m., when it opened, I had people waiting to enter the store. This was not the case in the last two years,” says Josianne, employee of the Bodyskin boutique, at Galeries Rive-Nord.
Denis Côté has not missed a Boxing Day for years. Even if he doesn’t always buy. “We’re going to see if there are any good discounts, I’m not sure yet,” said this citizen of Legardeur.
Black Friday distributes traffic
At the Galeries de la Capitale in Quebec, half an hour before the official opening of the stores, a crowd was already beginning to form. Queues formed around Simons, Lush and Bath and Body Works stores, but especially around classic electronics stores such as Best Buy.
Nearly 400 people were waiting in line in front of the store about ten minutes before opening. Léa, a student, had been waiting in front of the Best Buy for three hours already. She was the one who managed to get the first place in line. “I have to buy a new computer for my studies,” she explains, “I already know which model I want to buy and I saw on the site that there were only three copies left, so I decided guaranteed to be there very early.”
“We are ready to welcome customers, especially since Black Friday has gained popularity,” says Martin, sales director at Best Buy.
The store has already been prepared to welcome such customers since November. Several stores also agree that since the rise in popularity of Black Friday in Quebec, the Boxing Day frenzy has lost a little scope since the clientele is spread somewhat between the two days.
Photo PIERRE-PAUL POULIN
Elsewhere we also noted higher traffic than usual, notably at Carrefour Laval and the brand new Royalmount in Montreal.
Photo DAVID DESCÔTEAUX
Not surprised by the enthusiasm
Like every year, Professor Benoît Duguay, from UQAM, does not hesitate to get involved in predicting in the morning, during an interview, the kind of Boxing Day that awaits us. Again this year, he was right.
“If I rely on the holiday sales which start in October and end on January 1st, it’s been a crazy year so far. The merchants I spoke to didn’t mind. It should continue today,” he told Journal Thursday morning.
Photo provided by NATHALIE ST-PIERRE
“Black Friday lasted three weeks and it was crazy for three weeks. I was talking with people last Saturday at Promenades Saint-Bruno and there were so many people, I couldn’t believe it. The consumer surprises us all the time. I thought we would have had a slightly quieter year given the economic uncertainty, but not all of it!”
Where does the expression “Boxing Day” come from?
Boxing Day, December 26, is primarily known today as a day when big box stores are on sale. Its origin, although uncertain, would result from acts of charity.
Since 1871, Boxing Day or Boxing Day has been recognized as a public holiday in Canada and most Commonwealth countries, including the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.
Traditionally, on this day, employees, servants and less fortunate people were given gifts by their employers or by wealthier people.
There are two hypotheses about the origin of the name “Boxing Day”, literally translating to “day of Boxes”. The first is that, during the reign of Queen Victoria, the wealthy would wrap gifts for their servants, who had that day off, in boxes.
The second hypothesis is that on December 26, the feast of Saint Stephen, boxes of alms were left in church squares to help the poorest. Saint Stephen was the first Christian martyr and was a deacon responsible for distributing alms to the poor, according to The Canadian Encyclopedia.
Sources: Canadian EncyclopediaBBC and Encyclopedia Britannica.
