Boxing Day may have lost some of its drawing power from its hey day when retailers were loathe to offer pre-Christmas deals, but the promise of hefty discounts still drew big crowds to at least one outlet mall on Thursday.

Shoppers driving to the McArthurGlen Designer Outlet mall clogged the bridges and roads leading on to Sea Island, forcing Vancouver International Airport to warn travellers to give themselves lots of time if driving to catch their flights.

“We anticipate heavy congestion and those travelling to and from the airport by road should expect delays,” said YVR’s website. The airport said 90,000 travellers would fly in or out of YVR on Thursday.

Similar scenes were found at Tsawwassen Mills, with traffic backed up well down Hwy. 17 on Thursday.

McArthurGlen expected 50,000 shoppers for its biggest shopping day of the year, which is more than triple the 15,000 it gets on a typical weekend, said spokeswoman Ally Day.

The mall opened at 8 a.m. and there was a lineup at 6 a.m., she said. Mid-morning, it took one motorist 45 minutes to park, and cars were bumper-to-bumper heading in and out of the lot.

The mall hired 25 parking attendants to control the steady lineup for the 2,000 spots and put up digital signage to help direct shoppers.

Sepideh Kassaian, who was at the back of a line of about 80 people for one shop, was optimistic it wasn’t going to take long for her to get to the front.

“It’s moving fast,” said Kassaian, who had arrived at the mall at 9 a.m. to buy some clothes for her and her son and hopefully a wallet.

She was expecting a 50 per cent discount but said it wasn’t about the savings.

“The deals aren’t that great, but it’s the concept. We don’t really celebrate Christmas, to be honest, so it’s more of a fun thing, to get out and say I went to the Boxing Day sale,” she said.

Anita Bujoni, who is from Paris, bought a pair of pants for her boyfriend said that in Europe you normally have to wait until January for sales.

“We don’t have Boxing Day,” she said. “I wanted to experience Boxing Day sales.”

Day said Boxing Day still beats out Black Friday — which drew 35,000 shoppers in November — as McArthurGlen’s busiest day because in Canada, unlike the U.S., most people are at work on Black Friday.

They were few signs of a post-Christmas shopping frenzy at Oakridge Centre on Thursday.

Online sales may be hurting in-person sales, said Arshad Auyb, at the Cellicon kiosk, which sells mobile phone accessories.

By 11 a.m., he’d had only five customers since the 8 a.m. opening, “so far, not as much as we expected.”

“We are expecting they will come in the late afternoon,” said his colleague, Mohmad Akram.

Michelle To, who went to Oakridge specifically to get some Christmas decorations on sale, said she thought the crowds were light.

She browsed a bit but she wasn’t after any blockbuster deals at Oakridge or at Richmond Centre that she had visited earlier without buying anything.

For the mother of two young children, the mall outing was more of a chance for a respite from Christmas duties.

“I just needed to get out of the house,” she said.

slazaruk@postmedia.com