Hastings couple Mia and Briene, with their little girl Athaliah, found a few Boxing Day bargains. Photo / Paul Taylor
Hastings couple Mia and Briene, with their little girl Athaliah, found a few Boxing Day bargains. Photo / Paul Taylor
Queues and hot weather weren't enough to deter thousands of people from scouring Hawke's Bay shops to find themselves a Boxing Day special.
Hastings couple Briene and Mia, along with their six-month old Athaliah, didn't have anything in mind when they hit the shops on Sunday, visiting The Park MegaCentre and The Bay Plaza.
"Anything goes really," Briene said. "We're just looking for a sale."
They certainly found one.
Mia said they snapped up a rug for $55 down from $299 from Briscoes Hastings.
"There are mats that are over 70 per cent off - you save heaps of money," she said.
"We bought one for the kitchen."
They also said there had been queues forming outside major stores by midday in Hastings, and they had been fortunate to get in early and miss some of the lines.
Both car parks at the two popular shopping centres were mostly full by mid-morning.
Crowds on the hunt for Boxing Day specials at The Park Mega Centre in Hastings. Photo / Paul Taylor
It comes as Trade Me reported more than 4000 unwanted Christmas gifts had been listed for sale on the website by 8am on Boxing Day.
"As the saying goes, one person's trash is another person's treasure and every year we see hordes of Kiwis jump onsite to browse unwanted gifts on Boxing Day," Trade Me spokeswoman Ruby Topzand said.
"Last year, we saw 46,000 searches for unwanted gifts in the first 24 hours following Christmas Day."
The items put up for resale included plenty of clothing such as a medium men's shirt gifted to a Trade Me member who was now a self-confessed "lockdown large".
NZ Police also put out a warning on Boxing Day about making safe trades if selling or buying items.
NZ Police national manager prevention Superintendent Eric Tibbott said to take care.
"At Christmas time, we can sometimes receive an unwanted gift, spend too much, and then regret our purchases later," he said.
"If you plan to sell your unwanted items, make sure you take care when doing so."
His safety tips included meeting in a public place when doing a sale which was in a well-lit area and consider only trading in daylight hours.
Other tips included not going to a transaction alone, not going into someone else's house or allowing someone into yours, and never deposit money into a person's account without receiving the item first.
"Trust your instincts, if it sounds like a scam, it probably is."
