Sense of solidarity among Quebecers freezing in line on Boxing Day

Boxing Day is losing ground to Black Friday as the top sale shopping day in Quebec, according to a new survey by the Quebec Retail Council.

According to the 1,000 Quebecers surveyed in December, only about a quarter of them were planning on venturing out to shop Dec. 26.

However, almost half of respondents said they participated in Black Friday last November 42 per cent, a seven per cent increase over 2016.

Quebecers are increasingly turning to online shopping to get their sales fix.

According to the survey, 31 per cent of Quebecerswere planning on making online purchases after Christmas.

One of thethingsrespondents were planning to shop for, if they ventured out,waselectronics 24 per cent of the people who were planning to shop in stores on Boxing Day said they'd brave the cold for sales on their favourite gadgets.

At the Best Buy in Anjou, the line snaked around the corner of the big box store on Tuesday.

Claude Venne arrived at the store at 6:30 a.m. Tuesday and was the first person in line.

He came equipped with a cooler to sit on and some hot coffee.

He was looking to buy a Canon camera and hoped to save about $60 on it.

Xavier Bordeleau shared some hot paws heat packets with his neighbours in line. He arrived at 9:30 a.m. and Venne shared coffee with him.

He said there was a sense of community among the people waiting in the cold.

"There's a kindness there, for the Christmas season. Solidarity," Bordeleau said.