TRURO - Let there be no question, Christmas gift cash must be spent as soon as possible.
At least that seemed to be the order of the day at Walmart on Thursday morning as shoppers turned out early to take advantage of Boxing Day bargains.
"Because my kids have money that they got for Christmas and it's burning a hole in their pockets," chuckled Melanie Lane, of the reason why she and her two children, Colton and Alanna, had made their way in from Stewiacke to battle their way through the Boxing Day crowd.
"It's hard to see anything because there's so many people," she said.
Likewise, for Amy Niles of Hilden who was out with her two children, Emma and Tanner.
"They got Christmas money and they've got to spend it," she laughed. "We'll probably hit the mall after this one too."
It wasn't just youngsters who were anxious to spend their Christmas cash, however. Outside of Sport Chek in the Truro Mall, Donna Hoyt of Crowes Mills was also looking to spend the money Santa had left for her.
"Oh yes, he did, he left me money under the tree," she said.
And while not planning to spend all of it, perhaps, Hoyt was checking out the bargains on hockey jerseys for her grandson.
"He has just about every (Sidney) Crosby jersey that I can buy for him," she laughed.
Walmart manager Nick Richard said his doors were open at 7 a.m. to accommodate eager shoppers who were out at the crack of dawn in the quest of bargains that ranged throughout town of up to 60 per cent off.
"It s busy so far," Richard said. "Yeah, we had a few people lined up. I didn't get a count on it. There was probably 20, 25 people.
"It's going really well this morning."
Richard said shoppers were taking advantage of clear-out prices on Christmas-related items and specially priced Boxing Week sales on electronics.
Bart Hinze, owner of the Canadian Tire store in Truro, said he was also pleased with the early shopping activity.
"We opened at eight this morning," Hinze said. "There were people in the parking lot (when the doors opened) but it's really picked up now.
"Everything is moving. People are looking for bargains. We're selling a lot of tools, tool boxes and I seen about four T.V.s going out this morning."
Gary Staples of Great Village was one of the shoppers looking to add to his tool collection.
"Well, I'm just browsing, eh, looking for the specials," Staples said, displaying a container of specially priced tools he had snatched up.
A couple of aisles over, Barb Pratt was checking out a Canadian Tire flyer after her husband had also disappeared into the tool section of the store.
"Just stopped in to see what was going on," she said.
When asked whether she planned to purchase any big-ticket items, Pratt left the possibility open.
"Hubby's over in the tool section so we'll see," she said.
Over in the downtown core near the Esplanade, meanwhile, Liz Toole, co-owner of Above and Beyond Home Décor, said she was pleased with the day's shopping traffic up to that point in the early afternoon.
"Great," she said, of the early activity, which included two female shoppers from New Glasgow who were waiting for her doors to open at 9 a.m.
"This morning was crowded,"
But Toole said she was also pleased with the number of local residents who were taking advantage of the day's sales.
"We're pleased," she said. "I think that people are shopping local. They're shopping downtown this year."
