Shoppers line up outside Target looking for deals

Big crowds lined up outside Target this morning expecting to get door-crashing deals, but many shoppers left disappointed as bargains were lower than anticipated.

Target began liquidating all its product today after announcing in January that all 133 Canadian stores would be closing its doors, laying off 17,600 employees.

Target Canada owes billions and has received court protection from creditors. 

McMaster students Bairavi Ravindran and Thulashini Sooriyadas were among the first customers at the Ancaster store on Thursday, after lining up at 6 a.m. hoping to take advantage of the liquidation.

"We wanted to see what the hype was," said Ravindran, who had never shopped at a Canadian Target before.

"We bought mostly cosmetics which were 30 per cent off. I thought there would be huge sales but a lot of things were only five or 10 per cent off," she said.

"I wish they gave us something at the door like on Boxing Day," said Sooriyadas.

A crowd of at least 100 shoppers lined the store from end to end with shopping carts, waiting to check out their items.

Some shoppers said they were looking for hot-ticket items such as Playstation 4, Xbox One and Smart televisions, but the merchandise was not in stock. 

Target is paying most employees for at least 16 weeks. 

Among the discounts on Thursday were 30 per cent off cosmetics, 20 per cent off CDs and DVDs, clothing and toys, 10 per cent off televisions, videogames, headphones and furniture and 5 per cent off laptops and iPads.