It’s time to face facts: Retailers are jumping on the Let’s Start Offering Big Sales On Thanksgiving Day bandwagon left and right, so you probably won’t be enjoying your dinner very much this year. Target, Toys ‘R’ Us and Kohl’s have all announced they’ll be open earlier than ever on Thanksgiving this year, and Walmart probably will too. [More]
black friday
Best Buy Knows You Want To Waste Thanksgiving Camping Out For Stuff You Could Probably Buy Online For Less
By 11.8.13
It’s a little-known fact that at the first Thanksgiving feast, some of the pilgrims were sitting around the table while wishing in their heart of hearts that they were camped outside the local loom-and-musket shop in hopes of snatching up bargains. Hundreds of years later, Best Buy is finally honoring that wish by opening up at 6 p.m. on Turkey Day. [More]
Nearly Half Of Black Friday Shoppers Shopping For Themselves
By 11.7.13
While Black Friday is always seen as the in-earnest kickoff of the holiday shopping season, a lot of those people camped out outside of Targets, Walmarts, Best Buys, Toys R Us stores, etc., have no intention of buying a Christmas/Hanukkah gift for anyone but themselves. [More]
Kmart To Open At 6 A.M. On Thanksgiving For Shoppers Who Hate Their Families
By 11.4.13
Just in case you hate your family so much that you can’t wait until 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving to pretend that shopping at Macy’s, JCPenney, or Sears is more important than spending the holidays with your “loved ones,” Kmart — the store you used to buy socks at before the Walmart opened in your area — has decided to open at 6 a.m. on Thanksgiving to give you shelter from nagging questions about your job, love life, hair, friends, and why you never call. [More]
Walmart Decides To Get This Black Friday Deal Thing Out Of The Way Now
By 11.1.13
Could it be? Is Walmart as entirely sick and tired of the whole Black Friday and its inevitable creep backward as we are? Well, it’s not clear if it’s ditching Black Friday deals altogether, but it is offering a bunch of them a month ahead of time, starting tonight at midnight. [More]
So Macy’s Is Opening At 8 P.M. On Thanksgiving. What’s In It For Them?
By 10.16.13 — Updated: 10.29.15
Macy’s recently confirmed that they’ll be opening up at 8 P.M. on Thanksgiving Day. They’re not the first retailer to open their doors while many Americans are eyeing their third slice of pie, but they are the first to announce an obscenely early Black Friday opening time. (Of course, we broke the story two weeks before that.) Why is the department store chain risking backlash and opening so early? [More]
Macy’s Confirms It Will Open At 8 P.M. On Thanksgiving, Stay Open For 24 Hours
By 10.15.13
Two weeks ago we were the first to tell you about the possibility of Macy’s joining the ranks of premature Black Friday openings, alerting employees it might throw open its doors as early as 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving. Now the department store chain has not only confirmed that most of its stores will open early, but that these storee will remain open for 24 hours. [More]
Marketers Make Black Friday A Monthly Occurrence
By 10.1.13
It seems like a very long time ago that the phrase “Black Friday” referred to the day after Thanksgiving, an important but scary day in the retail calendar that kicked off the Christmas shopping season. Isn’t that still supposed to be the case? Not according to marketers, who have now expanded Black Fridays to every month of the year, because why not? [More]
Deals Are Better On Thanksgiving Than On Black Friday, And I Hate Everything
By 9.23.13
Here at Consumerist, we’ve been vociferously against Black Friday creep, the slow slide of the first official day of holiday shopping frenzy back into Thanksgiving Day. Last year, we supported retail employees who were against opening on Thanksgiving, and humbly suggested that retailers just go ahead and move Black Friday back a week. No one is listening to us. [More]
Target: Yeah, Summer Black Friday Is The New Christmas In July
By 7.15.13
As we noticed a recent flurry of “Black Friday” sales even though it’s sweltering out and there is no leftover turkey in our fridges, we began to wonder: have retailers finally lost their minds? Or, as one reader suggested, is a midsummer Black Friday sale just an inclusive version of the more traditional Christmas in July? [More]
Now February and April Also Have Black Fridays
By 7.12.13
Traditionally, “Black Friday” refers to the day after Thanksgiving and the semi-official kickoff of the winter holiday shopping season in the United States. In modern times, however, traditions are meaningless and retailers have decided to just throw Black Friday sales whenever they want. Like July 12. Or even February. [More]
Okay, Great, So Black Friday Is July 12 Now
By 7.11.13
Last November, we humbly proposed moving the all-American orgy of consumerism known as Black Friday back a week so retail employees and dedicated shoppers might get to enjoy their Thanksgiving and spend some of the holiday with their families. Target has taken our idea a little too far, and seems to think that Black Friday is tomorrow, July 12. [More]
Why Won’t Old Navy Exchange My Jeans That Won’t Fit?
By 12.7.12
If you go shopping on Black Friday at a clothing store, you should take the time to brave the fitting rooms, no matter how long the lines are. Nick learned this the hard way, buying three pairs of jeans for $15 each. He made it out of the store unscathed, but when he got home, found that the jeans didn’t fit. Boo. Oh, well, he can just take them back to the store and swap them for the correct size, right? Not so fast! [More]
Sam’s Club Reinstates Oversold Black Friday Orders, Makes Up To Sad Customers
By 12.6.12
Remember the Black Friday deal at Sam’s Club where too many orders came in for the best deals, and there wasn’t enough merchandise to fill them all? Well, Sam’s Club is doing the right thing for those customers, reinstating the canceled orders and even sending free memberships and gift cards to customers who went and found the same items elsewhere. [More]
These Best Buy Customer Service E-Mails Would Be Hilarious If They Weren’t Real
By 12.5.12 — Updated: 12.6.12
On Thanksgiving, Consumerist reader Tom tried to buy a TV combo deal from Best Buy. This was just the beginning of a trip through a parallel universe where orders turn into ghosts that charge your credit card and customer service reps repeatedly use the phrase “Good day!” while reminding you of your duty to check BestBuy.com more frequently. [More]
JCPenney Was Fastest To Answer Customer Calls On Black Friday Weekend; Costco Slowest
By 11.28.12
With Black Friday weekend being the busiest shopping spurt of the year, it’s also the time when customers call up retailers to complain or ask questions. But a new survey of 25 top retailers shows that consumers waited anywhere from 22 seconds to 12 minutes just to speak to customer service. [More]
Shoppers Are Not So Thrilled That Toys R Us Is Cancelling Orders And Not Answering Calls
By 11.27.12
Toys R Us went after customers in a big way this holiday weekend, opening early on Thanksgiving to compete with Walmart and Target, and offering deep discounts on coveted items. But the company may have overextended itself, as shoppers are complaining about canceled orders and having to wait ridiculously long times just to speak to a human. [More]
What A Black Friday Logistics Disaster Looks Like From The Other Side Of The Register
By 11.27.12
We mere consumers sit here waving our credit cards, whining about how we missed this or that great holiday deal, or our orders were canceled. But what’s the winter shipping frenzy like on the other size of the counter? One employee of men’s clothing store Joseph A. Bank reached out to us to explain the chain’s Black Friday logistics mess from the other side of the register. In addition to regular in-person shopping frenzy traffic, employees had to fill online orders if they happened to have the inventory. This worked pretty well until orders started to come through in multiples. [More]
