Shoppers eager to catch all Black Friday’s best bargains have been able to make an even earlier start to their holiday shopping, as a record number of stores opened on Thanksgiving Day.
Black Friday, the day following the Thanksgiving holiday, is the biggest shopping day of the year in the US.
Retailers offer special deals to tempt shoppers to spend.
Shoppers eager to catch all Black Friday’s best bargains have been able to make an even earlier start to their holiday shopping, as a record number of stores opened on Thanksgiving Day
Some stores, including the flagship Macy’s in New York, opened on Thursday evening – traditionally reserved for celebrating – for the first time ever.
Twelve national chains opened their doors on Thanksgiving Day.
Workers’ groups have protested that the trend towards Thanksgiving opening means retail employees can no longer spend the day with their own families.
Thanksgiving Day is always celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November.
Black Friday took over from the last Saturday before Christmas as the biggest shopping day of the year for US consumers in 2001.
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Black Friday is just days away, and shoppers already have started to refine their shopping lists, searching for ads online that reveal gotta-have gifts and rock-bottom prices at major retailers.
The holiday shopping season represents the bulk of many merchants’ yearly sales, so luring shoppers early is important, retail analysts say. Dozens of Black Friday websites entice shoppers with early releases of ads.
Retailers count on shoppers poring over their newspaper inserts. Papers’ Thanksgiving Day editions often are the largest of the year.
“This is the one time of year when consumers have the opportunity to see all this sales stuff in advance,” said Brad Wilson, who has a website called BradsDeals.com.
“It gives people three or four weeks to strategize about what they are going to buy.”
Online sneak-peak ads for Black Friday come out earlier every year, he said.
Black Friday 2013
“Consumers love the game of it all,” Brad Wilson said.
“They want to find the best deals. And they want to be able to get to the right stores at the right time.”
Shoppers caught up in the adrenaline rush of getting the best Black Friday deals – like last year’s $97 flat screen television – will be in for even better deals this year, Brad Wilson is predicting.
“The bargains have gotten better every year for a while,” he said.
Some of the websites that already have started posting Black Friday ads:
• BFAds.net
• BlackFriday.com
• Brad’s Black Friday
• dealnews.com
• TheBlackFriday.com
