For those of you who are not quite as familiar, Boxing Day in Canada (and some other countries) is essentially the same phenomenon as Black Friday in the United States. The day after Christmas Day, Boxing Day is the biggest shopping day in Canada with many retailers, online and offline, offering some of their best sales of the year. It’s not uncommon to find people waiting in line outside of a Best Buy or Wal-Mart several hours before the store opens its doors.
Last year, I skipped Boxing Day for a number of reasons. I didn’t really have anything that I wanted to buy and the things that I did want to buy were available online instead.
Further still, I make money online as a freelance writer, so while most other conventional workers would have the day off, I could easily put in a full day of work on Boxing Day instead. The amount of money that I would make during that period could effectively cover any potential savings I may have. I can then go shopping a few days later when everyone else is back at their respective offices.
Given all of these reasons, you may be surprised to hear that I am indeed going to brave the insane crowds at the shopping mall this year for Boxing Day shopping. Is it that I have any specific that I want to buy? Not really. I might pick up a sweater and a couple of video games, but nothing too major. Is it that I don’t have any work to occupy myself if I were to stay at home? Not exactly. There isn’t a lot of work to do, but I have projects on my plate that I could address.
Why, then, am I crazy enough to hit the mall this year for Boxing Day? I’m not entirely sure. Maybe I’m just bored and looking for something to do. I do enjoy people watching, so I might just grab a cup of coffee and observe the crowd behavior. For all of my fellow Canadians in the audience, are you going Boxing Day shopping this year? Have you already gone and come back?
While we don’t celebrate Boxing Day, I did go out this morning to take advantage of a few sales, but only to get things I needed (ie. I had a list way before Christmas)!
Hope you had a great holiday!
Sounds like a good time if you’re just there to hang out and crowd/people watch! Perhaps bring along a flip and/or digital camera and “covertly” take some pictures and video clips 🙂 Could make some good post material for tomorrow!
Was bored at home and went out to the mall.
Everything was so cheap! I got eight items for $100. People watching is always fun but so crowded. I think every teenage girl in the city was there.
@Deborah: Aside from the insane driving conditions, I did have a nice holiday. Thanks!
@Nick: People watching was interesting. I didn’t bring a camera, but I did take a couple of sub-par snapshots with my camera phone.
@Tracy: Glad to hear you got a deal. I found a couple of things, but nothing too spectacular. Oh, and not just every teenage girl in the city, but also every teenage boy, Gen X man and woman, middle aged man and woman… you get the idea.