Boxing Day brings out bargain-hunting hordes

Rain and humidity didn't deter hordes of shoppers from hunting for a Boxing Day bargain.

Rotorua Central Mall and the CBD were bustling with crowds of people looking to spend their Christmas money or snatch up a few late gifts at a good price.

While some shoppers reported bargains were not as good as  in the past, others were very pleased with the deals they found.

Brothers Dakotah, 10, and Dontae Urwin-Chicoine, 9, were hitting the streets looking for something special to spend their Christmas money on.

Dakota said he had found some Lego and a boogie board while Dontae found a remote control car and a studded dog collar.

The brothers were being supervised by their aunt, Tina Urwin, who said they had been excited to get out and spend their money.

"They get two days of having lots of gifts. We came down because of the good deals _ you can't beat 50 per cent off. And what else are they going to do on a rainy day? We tried to come down early to beat the rush but it didn't really work.''

She  thought the sales were just as good as last year's.

Hamilton's Tania Herbert came to The Warehouse to scope out the  specials. She said she had found some very good prices, including a popular kids' scooter that was less than half price.

"They had some pretty good bargains, my son will be happy with his scooter. It wasn't as busy here as it gets in Hamilton.''

Ange Miller was going to make a day of shopping.

"I got some clothes and jewellery and I still haven't finished shopping. We're just taking the kids for some lunch then we'll come back. We'll be spending the whole day shopping _ may as well while everything is cheap.''

Cpre Hohaia said she had done well buying toys for the young ones.

"We waited for the sales and we were impressed by what we got from The Warehouse _ it's the best place to be today.''

Five-dollar books were among the bags of sale items found by Matthew Sholl. He also found some cheap Christmas decorations and some notepads.

"We came out here for the sales. At Mitre 10 Mega we managed to get some very cheap paint so now we're going to do up the house as well.

"There's been some great sales, I think it's better this year than last year.''

At Millers Fashion Club on Tutanekai St, store manager Sandra Cooper said there were lines out the door waiting to check out their $3 clothing racks.

"It was absolutely frantic _ just after lunch we had served 135 customers who bought 399 items. It's been mad compared with other years and it's been a pick-up for us.''