Thursday was the American Thanksgiving which traditionally leads into the Black Friday sales.
Black Friday became a tradition in Canada several years ago.
Many stores open early, the Cataraqui Centre opened at 8 a.m Friday morning but leading the pack was Best Buy in the Rio Can centre — it opened at 6 a.m. and while the sun wasn’t up yet but the bargain hunters were.
Jaymie Shields was the first in line at Best Buy but says she wasn’t the first one at the store.
“There was a lot of them in their cars, then I got smart and stood in line,” she said.
Many shoppers arrived between 4:30 and 5 for the 6 a.m. opening and arguably with good cause.
Nicole Forbes is only looking for one item and the chance to save $700 on the price tag was enough to encourage her to stand outside.
Just before the doors opened, the line up at Best Buy ran the length of the store.
Black Friday is now considered the start of the Christmas shopping season and Best Buy’s general manager, Derek Levac, says they begin preparing for the event months in advance.
The Black Friday weekend, ending on Cyber Monday, is one of the biggest sales events of the retail year according to Levac.
“Boxing week is the busiest, however from yesterday (Thursday) our pre-Black Friday sale and V.I.P. to Cyber Monday, it’s the second most sought out weekend to do shopping for the holidays.”
“[I think] $7000 more than likely because the TV alone was like $1699 regular pricing so I’ve saved quite a bit on a lot of things,” she said.
Some of the biggest anticipated sellers this holiday season are expected to be items like the new Xbox consoles and Google Home units.
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