Millions of Canadians took part in the Boxing Day bonanza on Wednesday, although shopping malls may have been less crammed with bargain hunters this year.

In some parts, the shopping extravaganza started as soon as Christmas Day. At one Best Buy store in Toronto, eager consumers began lining up at midnight Tuesday night to make sure they got first pick of sales items.

Hundreds of bargain hunters line up to pay for their purchases during a Boxing Day sale at a BestBuy in Mississauga, Ont., on Wednesday.
(J.P. Moczulski/ Canadian Press)

"I bought this TV at Best Buy today. I got $800 off," one breathless shopper said as he loaded the unit into his trunk. "Can't go wrong — it was worth getting up at 3:30 in the morning for."

Across British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario, the electronics retailer opened its doors at 6 a.m. local time. Anyone who lined up before 5:30 a.m. was eligible to win a $500 gift card.

Store manager Chris Barker said Boxing Day in Canada is the equivalent to Black Friday in the United States, which follows American Thanksgiving and is one of the busiest shopping days of the year.

Analysts say about 16 per cent of holiday sales are made in the week after Christmas, one of — if not the — most lucrative times of the year for retail businesses.

"[Today] is the busiest day of the year for retailers, and so everybody comes out looking for the greatest deals," he said.

In Winnipeg, Eric Hogue brought a generator, barbecue and rental truck so he could line up at 1 p.m. Christmas Day. Hogue waited 18 hours for a door-crasher sale at a furniture store offering a 99 per cent discount.

"It's a $2,649 table. Hopefully, if I do get lucky enough to get it, I'll get it for $26.49."

Although he was first in line and first one in the store, he never found his table.

In Montreal, Zain Ashfaq arrived at 4:30 a.m. ET to claim the first spot in a line packed with hundreds of bargain hunters outside a downtown Future Shop. Ashfaq hoped to save more than $300 on a laptop computer for his father, but was wary of the cut-throat door-crasher nature of big sales.

"With so many people going in, I might not be able to find it before other people do," he said.

16% of sales in week after Christmas

According to a Visa Canada survey, more than five million Canadians planned to hit the shops on Boxing Day. After electronics, the most sought-after item was clothing.

For the first time ever, more than half of Wal-Mart stores across the country were to remain open 24 hours a day from Boxing Day until New Year's Eve — largely due to customer demand, the company said.

The Visa survey also found the number of Canadians planning to make purchase on Wednesday was 17 per cent less than in 2006, and the lowest number since 2002. Those who decided to hit the stores were expected to spend less, too.

Last year, Boxing Day shoppers spent on average $328 each, compared to $233 this year.

Maureen Atkinson, a retail consultant, said those numbers may mean the concept of the traditional Boxing Day sale has evolved.

"Most retailers have recognized that this is actually a period, not a specific day. So you'll see a Boxing Week and a lot of Boxing Week promotions," she said.

Ontarians top shoppers

Ontarians were the most likely to say they planned to shop, at 30 per cent, while the least likely shoppers were in Quebec, where only 16 per cent said they planned to blow their dough. The number of spenders in Manitoba was pegged at 21 per cent, projected to drop an average of $166 each.

On average, the survey says, Albertans were expected to spend the most — a whopping $431, 85 per cent more than the national average.

Retailers south of the border such as Macy's and Saks Fifth Avenue advertised deals of 40 to 75 per cent off selected merchandise, including expensive fur coats and cashmere sweaters.

But many Canadians said they would keep their dollars domestic and do their Boxing Day shopping north of the border.

"People are not wanting to travel on the roads very much and also, people are remembering that, 'If I want to return or exchange something, I think I'd rather do that in my home community than have to travel 20, 30, 50 kilometres away to do that,'" said Derek Nighbor of the Retail Council of Canada.

With files from the Canadian Press and the Associated Press