By Chelsea Laskowski

VIDEO: Boxing Day lineup part of the fun for PA’s diehards

Dec 26, 2013 | 2:24 PM

People often hear about Boxing Day madness in the United States, but in front of Future Shop before 6 a.m. there was only laughter and jokes to be had.

“In America people are borderline rioting and Canadians are sitting here drinking Tim Hortons and laughing,” said Calvin Brakstad’s son as the two stood in line in the morning.

This wasn’t the first rodeo for the father-son duo, who got in line at around 5:30 a.m.

“Lucked out this year. Last year was much colder, much longer line,” said Calvin Brakstad.

Together, they planned to grab a remote car starter which was on sale, and some gaming equipment.

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At the front of the line was Brandon Lai. With friend Cody Craven he drove by Future Shop after 4 a.m. When they saw no one in line they took a trip to McDonalds before coming back to stake their claim as first.

There was only one item on his list – a 32 inch television listed in the flyer.Second in line was Hulda Luna, with her two children along with her. She got the spot after the two men in front of her went to their car to warm up.

Luna was winging it, having not yet looked at the Boxing Day flyer.

“Just look around and probably grab some tablets or Ipads… whatever’s the best deal,” she said.

This was her first Boxing Day shopping trip and planned to spend the whole day walking around stores in the city.

At 6 a.m., as expected, everyone filed into the store respectfully, although Brakstad admitted he was getting excited the closer it got to opening time.

Most made a beeline for televisions, which is common according to General Manager Robert Cormier.

“TVs usually is our first go to because that’s our biggest sales, then laptops and tablets come in second,” he said. Big ticket items mean big savings for shoppers. That’s why they usually sell out quickly.

“The biggest TVs and the Polka audio systems which were almost $1,100 off. Those sold out already,” Cormier said at 6:20 a.m., only 20 minutes after the store opened.

Getting ready for the big day is quite the undertaking for the store’s staff.

“On Christmas Eve the store closes at 5 o’clock. For three hours we have 22 to 25 staff members come in and get all the boxes open, get ready, prepping the areas that they need to go,” Cormier said.

Boxing Day is an all hands on deck situation for Future Shop. Every single staff member with the exception of three worked that day.

Other stores opened later, including Wal Mart at 7 a.m. However there were no line ups outside the doors at the store.

At 8 a.m., Leons also had a small lineup outside before it opened.

claskowski@panow.com

On Twitter: @chelsealaskowsk