Thread: Black Friday Sales

Wal-Mart Black Friday circular: See the deals
By Jessica Dickler | CNNMoney.com – 2 hours 48 minutes ago

They may as well call it Black Thursday. Joining a slew of other national retailers, Wal-Mart said it too will open its doors nationwide on Thanksgiving night.

Not to be one-upped by Target, which recently announced it would open at midnight on Black Friday, Wal-Mart said it will kick off its Black Friday deals at 10 p.m. on Thursday. "Our customers told us they would rather stay up late to shop than get up early, so we're going to hold special events on Thanksgiving and Black Friday," Duncan Mac Naughton, Wal-Mart's chief merchandising officer, U.S., said in a statement.

Starting at 10 p.m., Wal-Mart is offering doorbuster deals on toys, clothes and home accessories like $5 Barbies marked down from $19, jeans for less than $10, children's pajamas sets for $4.47 and a Black & Decker Coffeemaker for $9.44.

Then at midnight, the retailer said it will begin discounting electronics as well. Deals include a Samsung 51-inch plasma TV for $498 down from $649, a Kodak 14 megapixel camera for $49 and a Magellan GPS for $69, marked down from $89.

Another round of discounting will start at 8 a.m. and continue throughout the weekend, Wal-Mart said. Among those deals will be Goodyear tires starting at $59, a Vizio 42-inch 3D LED Wi-Fi HDTV for $598 and a selection of DVDs for $1.96 each.

This is the earliest look at the retailer's highly anticipated doorbuster deals, which are not usually released until the week of Thanksgiving. Last week, the retailer said it would give customers who sign up at Walmart.com or Facebook.com/Walmart an even earlier preview of its Black Friday sales.

For hard-core deal hunters, the retailer is also offering a downloadable map for all of its stores on its Facebook page so they can map out their route before they start shopping.

As the holiday season gets underway, retailers will have to work harder to motivate shoppers -- even on one of the biggest shopping days of the year, said Tom Julian, president of Tom Julian Group, a retail consultancy in New York. "I expect there will be more Thanksgiving openings from other groups as a result," he said. "It's a marketing maneuver for those that really want to own Thanksgiving to Black Friday."

Best Buy, Macy's and Kohl's have already announced openings at midnight. But getting shoppers in the mood to spend has been particularly difficult for retailers, as Americans feel increasingly protective of their discretionary dollars.

Last year, Black Friday sales totaled $11.8 billion, according to a report by research firm IBISWorld. This year, sales are expected to increase by only 1.2% to just under $12 billion.


Wal-Mart has also announced a number of additional shopping incentives in recent weeks, including price matching from now until Dec. 15, layaway on purchases over $15, free shipping on most Walmart.com products, no interest on Wal-Mart credit card purchases if they are paid for in full within six months, and a 10-cent discount on each gallon of gas bought at participating Murphy USA or Wal-Mart stations.


http://finance.yahoo.com/news/wal-ma...102300150.html

Best Buy to open at midnight on Black Friday
By Jessica Dickler | CNNMoney.com – Fri, Nov 4, 2011 10:02 AM EDT

Not to be outdone by Target or Sears, Best Buy said it will open its doors nationwide at midnight Thanksgiving to get a jump start on Black Friday electronics' sales.

Best Buy is the latest retailer to announce it will open at the final stroke of the holiday, rather than the crack of dawn a few hours later. Like Target, this marks its earliest opening ever. "At Best Buy, we're focused on creating an unparalleled shopping experience for our customers," Barry Judge, Best Buy's executive vice president and chief marketing officer said in a statement. "Black Friday is just the beginning."

The electronics retailer said it will host movie events in some stores starting at 9 p.m. and fans on Facebook will qualify for daily e-gift card giveaways during the holiday shopping season.

Best Buy also announced free standard shipping on all BestBuy.com purchases with no minimum from now until Dec. 27, and price matching on all products advertised for a lower price elsewhere between Nov. 13 and Dec. 24, excluding Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals.

Wal-Mart and Target recently announced similar policies.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/best-b...140200590.html

Target to open at midnight on Black Friday
By Jessica Dickler | CNNMoney.com – Fri, Oct 28, 2011 3:28 PM EDT

For shoppers eager to get a head start on their holiday shopping, Target is opening its doors nationwide at midnight on Black Friday. "The holidays bring hectic schedules and tight budgets, so extending store hours and offering lots of additional ways to save makes Target a great choice for affordable, one-stop holiday shopping," Tina Schiel, executive vice president, said in a statement.

While other retailers like Toys R Us have opted to get a jump start on Black Friday by opening on Thanksgiving night in the past, for Target, which usually opens its doors at the crack of dawn on Black Friday, this is its earliest opening ever.

Target also said it is extending its store hours on other key shopping days later in the season. The retailer will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. or 8 p.m. on December 24 (Christmas Eve) and 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. on December 26, the day after Christmas.

Like Wal-Mart, Target has also introduced a price-matching policy, which means shoppers can get a refund on the difference in price of a product if they find the same product advertised for a lower price locally by a competitor.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/target...192800908.html

I have already done most of my Christmas shopping & alot of it was done sitting with my computer. There is no way in the world I am going to wait in line putside on a cold NE PA night looking for a "bargin".

Workers push back against earlier holiday openings
By ANNE D'INNOCENZIO, MARGERY BECK and STEVE KARNOWSKI | AP – 5 mins ago

http://news.yahoo.com/workers-push-b...211123814.html

It's a shame that families can't even have the holiday because they have to gO to work. I hope no one shops at midnight.

I know I won't be shopping that late/early for Christmas. It is a shame the companies won't let the employees have the day off. I don't get up early for the black Friday deals. I usually wait and try to find it on sale or pay full price. I hate the crowds on black Friday and then they only have a couple of the advertised items your after. A couple of years ago I sent my husband up to Radio Shack for a Black Friday item. He said there was mob there and they only 2 of the items in stock.
So the heck with that crap.

My sister and I go out on Black Friday, just for the sport of it and to see how crazy people can be...we're from a small town and don't get out much! But I think the stores trying to out do each other is ridiculous. Yes, BF is a big thing, but wait and start your sales at 5 or 6 on that morning, not the night before. Give your employees Thanksgiving day off so they can spend it with their families. If all the stores would do this, I really don't think they would lose much money, they would just make it in less time the next day.

You can't completely blame the stores either. They're going to keep doing it as long as their are customers and employees.

People need to stop shopping that early, and employees need to stop VOLUNTEERING to go in to work that early.

You get a handful of employees who WANT to do it, and then the rest of us are ''REQUIRED'' to work it. NO ONE wants to have to be at work at 4am or sooner, ANY DAY of the week.

I even know of people who are willing to work on Christmas Day if stores would be open.

I can't stand people like that. Stop ruining it for the rest of us.

I'm one that use to volunteer to work on Christmas but my situation was different. I was a cook for a nursing home so I would work so the other cook could have off to celebrate Christmas with her family. I don't celebrate that day, it's a sad day for me. My MIL passed away on Christmas morning 2006 but even before that I didn't really celebrate it. I don't like all the hype, I don't like having holidays where they TELL you that you should be giving or receiving gifts. If I want to get you something, I will but I won't hold the gift for you until a holiday. I give when I want to give.

I usually stay out of every store until Feb. but after we went for our passports we went out to eat next to a Sear's. The place was dead & it was only around 6 PM so we decided to walk around & we saw a great sale on dishwashers. We need a new one so we bought it. No lines, no waiting. In & out in under a half hour!