TORONTO – It’s beginning to look a lot like sale season, as retailers in Toronto and across the country prepare to embrace an American shopping tradition known as Black Friday.
The American ‘shopping holiday,’ which takes place the weekend of U.S. Thanksgiving, is known to kick off the holiday season with door-crasher events and deep discounts.
But the Canadian holiday shopping season is looking even more American this year as more retailers hop on the bandwagon, scheduling a rush of Black Friday events in hopes that consumers will shop at home, instead of heading south of the border.
But, according to a recent poll conducted by CIBC, more Canadians are buying into Black Friday and the Monday after, which has come to be known as ‘Cyber Monday’ when online retailers hold further sales.
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The poll found one in ten of the 1,000 Canadians surveyed planned on making a purchase on one of the days.
Retailers across the GTA are hoping that remains true as malls, department stores and even spas get ready to offer mass markdowns to holiday shoppers.
The Eaton Centre will open at 6 a.m. to accommodate eager customers and lineups. The mall will also offer the first 100 shoppers to arrive at Guest Services a $10 mall gift card.
Fairview Mall will also be opening early at 7 a.m. for early risers to get the most out of the sales. Shops at Don Mills and Sherway Gardens will open at 7 a.m. and Vaughn Mills will open at 8 a.m.
The Bay got to an early start offering Black Friday markdowns a week in advance and will offer daily promotions both in store and online throughout the week. Gadget retailer Best Buy will open all locations at 8 a.m. on Friday and Saturday and will offer online sales from November 25 to 27.
Though Apple did not specify any discounts in the email, in past years Apple has not given very deep discounts on their electronic gadgets.
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