Shoppers queued in long lines at Toronto area malls and even on highway off-ramps for the annual Boxing Day spending frenzy on Tuesday.

Masses hoping to score a post-Christmas deal scrambled to suburban retail centres like Vaughan Mills in Vaughan and the Toronto Outlet Mall in Halton Hills early Tuesday morning, bringing varying levels of pandemonium.

A video shared to Instagram on one of the busiest shopping days of the year shows an enormous line snaking around the Nike Factory Store at Vaughan Mills at 7:30 a.m., where hundreds waited in the rain for the chance to get their hands on the latest hot merch from the sportswear brand.

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A post shared by AreaCode416ix (@areacode416ix)

Shoppers racing to hit up the Toronto Outlet Mall via Highway 401 clogged up the Trafalgar Road exit, creating traffic headaches on the busy artery. The backup of traffic got so bad that Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) were forced to request drivers "not park or walk on the shoulder of the highway or the exit ramp."

ADVISORY: OPP Highway Safety Division is advising the public that the Trafalgar Road off-ramp from WB #Hwy401 at the Toronto Outlet Mall is backed up. The #OPP is requesting drivers not park or walk on the shoulder of the highway or the exit ramp. ^lh pic.twitter.com/Po3sGvSfv4

— OPP GTA Traffic (@OPP_GTATraffic) December 26, 2023

The OPP later closed the off-ramp after continued backup issues.

Advisory: OPP Highway Safety Division is advising the public that the Traflagar Road off-ramp from #HWY401 WB at the Toronto Outlet Mall in now closed. #MississaugaOPP is requesting drivers not to park or walk on the shoulder of the highway to gain access to the mall. ^td pic.twitter.com/abVCXF754l

— OPP Highway Safety Division (@OPP_HSD) December 26, 2023

This year's Boxing Day frenzy, while clearly drawing plenty of shoppers, still feels a bit different from years past.

Aside from a few big sales drawing crowds, Boxing Day's relevance seems to be fading with each passing year. Once limited to a single day of frenzied shopping, trends have shifted to retailers offering week-long sales, while the rise of online retail has further diminished the crowd scenes that defined earlier Boxing Days in Toronto.