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Boxing Day Sales Ideas

After the turkey is eaten, the presents are opened and the eggnog is gone, barely has the hangover gone before the frenzy of the next major event. Boxing Day Sales in Melbourne is an event on its own, perhaps not to the scale of Black Saturday shopping trips in America, but definitely an event one needs to be well and truly prepared for. It’s a day where shops slash prices down to 70 – 80% on most items, where shoppers, some excited, others reluctantly braving the onslaught of shopping – but all collectively agreeing that the bargains to be had is truly too good to miss up. For the uninitiated Boxing Day is the day after Christmas.

Where are these sales, you may ask. The biggest bargains to be had are, unfortunately, in the big shopping complexes. In Melbourne these places would be Myers – Chadstone, High Point, Doncaster Shopping Town, and of course, who could forget the hallowed cobblestones of the biggest shopping street in Melbourne – The Bourke Street Mall. For household items, don’t forget Kmart, Target and Big W – Boxing Day Sales often double up as their stocktake sales as well.

Beware, though – shopping in Melbourne on Boxing Day is not for the faint-hearted. One must be prepared for hour-long waits for fitting rooms, cashiers, discount clothing bins surrounded by salivating women, clothes strewn along the floor. Top tips for the day are:

1. Wear a tank top and tights where possible – in dire circumstances when fitting rooms are so crowded there’s a cue to the main entrance, you may need to try on clothing where you are, or miss the whole event just waiting for a room.

2. Get there EARLY – shops usually open earlier on Boxing Day, and it doesn’t take long for the best items to run out the door.

3. Carry cash – chances are you will already have been waiting 45 minutes to get to the cashier, and once you do all you want to do is get in, and get out. Credit cards will more likely just slow you down.

4. Save the Boxing Day sales for those purchases that are more expensive – that gorgeous dress that you’ve been lusting after for a long time or that pair of stilettos that calls your name every time you walk past the window – those are the purchases you want to look out for when you’re speed-walking from shop to shop trying to canvass all the shops in Melbourne in just under 7 hours.

5. Start hoarding Boxing Day flyers – have a plan for the shops that you definitely want to hit on the day.

6. Pack a sandwich and bring water – remember, the whole city of Melbourne will be bursting with shoppers and restaurants also cash in on the frenzy. Stay hydrated with your bottle of water – dehydration killed the Duracell bunny.