Bob

So what deals are you lot looking for?

Nearly everything looked pretty shit from the adverts and stores aren't allowed to be open today in MA, so most stores are opening around 12:30am or so.

Amazon is doing their new 7" Fire tablet for $35 though, so picked one up as a spare. This is till the end of the weekend I think.

brit_usa2014

iPad Air 2 for $449

username.exe

Need a bunch of tools and a few power tools.

I'm loathe to go in with the crowds, though. I might brave it or just stay online and see what deals I can pick up.
I was wondering whether there is a bump in the secondary market on Craigslist after everyone updates their stuff with new Black Friday acquired objects.

kimilseung

Amazon Fire at $35.00 looks a bargain. But we just bought one last week.
All I will be getting is Spa Francorchamps for a car racing game at 30% off, for a whopping saving of about $1.50

username.exe

Get on the chat function on the amazon site and they will credit you the difference.

scrubbedexpat091

Black Friday has spread across the border.....No holiday here and its simply retailers way of trying to keep people home and shopping instead of cross border.

Sales all suck though.

lansbury

I got one of the Amazon tablets. At $35 the grand kids can play with it.

yellowroom

Black Friday has infected the UK, adverts all over the telly this week. Apparently this is going to be the biggest day for the shops all year.

The population seems to be polarised between "another bloody american import, nothing to do with us, too much commercialism, we don't need more stuff and it's a work day for us" and "oooh, shiny! bargain".

According to an article in the Times earlier in the week, 20% of people were considering throwing a sickie to go shopping. I despair...

WJS

It just doesn't make sense in the UK!!

I can understand Black Friday in the US because it is the day after Thanksgiving and onto Christmas now and for many it is a holiday. But it just seems daft that the UK took this up.

yellowroom

Seems to be due to the global nature of companies like Amazon, who noticed UK folk ordering bargains from the .com site and decided there was enough of a demand to create a UK version. Other retailers followed suit.

The reality being a few headline loss-leader bargains, and then modest discounts on everything else. Media disappointedly reporting that its quite civilized this year, with no riots in Tescos and most shoppers seem to be those looking to save a few pounds off Christmas presents. Closer to home a colleague has just popped out for lunch to get some hair straighteners for his other half.

Basically, if you were in the market for some furniture or a large electrical item anyway, then this weekend might be a good weekend to get it. Otherwise, the bargains aren't as good as the hype would have you believe.

scrubbedexpat091

It's infected Canada as well, started a few years ago when the CAD$ was at or near par with the USD$ in an attempt to keep people in Canada spending money instead of going south.

Retailers are doing it again this year, but even with the weak exchange, a lot of items are still cheaper in the US....

Same item at Petsmart, 109 USD in the US (150 CAD$) and 215 in Canadian stores, still cheaper to go south of the border for many things.

We just get hosed by retailers here.


Amazon though seems to be wanting Canadian's to use .ca more, they added a nice selection of items for black Friday at reasonable prices.

Kitchen Aid mixer

.com 339 USD$ (450CAD$ approx.)

.ca 429 CAD$

They did this with a variety of items, actually surprised, but maybe they are tired of sending packages to Canada from the US....lol

robin1234

Talking about Canada/US, we live just by the border on the U.S. side. Town is dead on its feet, but it does have a surprisingly big UPS store not far from the border crossing. With several large trash bins just outside. All the cars parked there are Canadian .. folks order their stuff, unwrap them, throw away all the packaging .. whether it's to try to save the duty on the way back, or simply because the shipping would be cheaper within the U.S., I don't know.

We're in Canada for the long weekend to avoid the U.S. holiday. Meanwhile my email is full of Black Friday bs both from Britain and U.S.!

Pulaski

According to an article I read last year, about one in six people in the UK now "celebration Thanksgiving". Unless you were an American that was unheard of when I left the UK fourteen years ago.

Pulaski

I had the misfortune to be dispatched to Walmart on Thanksgiving afternoon for emergency grocery supplies and found myself wandering into an apparent paramilitary police exercise. Between the two doors into Walmart, parked facing outward, on the hatched "fire lane/ no parking area", were nine assorted law enforcement cars - police, sheriff, unmarked, and another four or five parked blocking the side road.

Several police, supported by additional contract security were guarding each door. Inside I have never seen so many Walmart employees, supported again by numerous contract security staff, all (employees and contractors) wearing a bright yellow tabard with a Walmart star logo on the back.

Apparently the Walmart sale was due to start at 5pm, but the store was already open before that time for ordinary retailing, so staff were guarding piles of TVs and displays of DVDs and computer games to stop people grabbing them early. .... Overall it looked like chaos waiting to happen and I was glad to be on my way more than an hour ahead of the fun starting.

yellowroom

Really? That would mean more people celebrate Thanksgiving than Eid or Diwali. We certainly know when those are (usually because of colleagues celebrating them bringing in goodies to the office), but I've never heard of anyone organizing a Thanksgiving celebration. Perhaps the author got it mixed up with 'Harvest Festival'?