The Brown Thomas on Grafton Street in Dublin city centre saw a crowd of dozens form outside ahead of opening its doors to customers at 10am on Friday morning.
Despite another year of increases in online shopping, retail businesses remain optimistic that customers will turn out to take advantage of the traditional post-Christmas discounts.
Brown Thomas Arnotts CEO Donald McDonald said St Stephen’s Day marks one of the biggest day on the calendar for the business.
“St Stephen’s Day is always a highlight in our retail calendar,” he said.
“This year we again saw queues outside our Brown Thomas and Arnotts stores as customers looked forward to the start of our much-loved sale.
“While the sale is also available online, the in-store atmosphere is something special, and we’re extremely proud of our teams for creating such a warm and welcoming experience.”
As the post-Christmas sales continue, some shoppers will also be taking the time to make returns and exchanges on unwanted presents.
Nearly a third of people re-gift unwanted Christmas presents if they have no gift receipt, according to a survey from the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC).
Asked what they would do if they received an unwanted Christmas gift without a gift receipt, 32pc of people said they would re-gift it.
Some 42pc of consumers said they never include a gift receipt when giving a gift at Christmas.
That figure rises to 52pc among the men in the survey.
38pc of people said they include a gift receipt some of the time, with 18pc saying they always include one if possible.
“While over half of consumers said they include a gift receipt at least some of the time, that still leaves a significant number who never include a receipt,” CCPC director of communications Grainne Griffin said.
“This makes it harder to return or exchange unwanted gifts and can leave many unsure about what to do with their unwanted presents.
“While it’s great to see many consumers regifting, swapping or donating their unwanted gifts to avoid waste, 10pc will leave it unopened or dump it and only 5pc will ask for a receipt.”
Men were found to be almost twice as likely as women to use an unwanted gift, while 17pc of consumers were likely to donate an unwanted gift to charity or fundraising events.