‘Not quite the same’: Lethbridge retailers navigate Black Friday during pandemic

While Black Friday originated as an American shopping tradition that follows Thanksgiving, many Canadian retailers follow suit.

In Lethbridge, both big-box and smaller local businesses advertised mark downs on Nov. 26, in an effort to entice shoppers to kick off their holiday shopping.

“We jumped on it when it first started happening 5 to 6 years ago, and it’s worked very well,” said Jon McFadden, general manager of Bert and Mac’s Source for Sports.

“We saw people going south of the border (years ago) and we thought (let’s) jump on this and keep the dollars in our local community.”

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However, the supply chain shortages were a cause for concern this year. McFadden said the store wasn’t sure whether or not to take part in Black Friday.

“We decided about nine days ago that we’re going to do a Black Friday sale,” he explained.  “We have a gift card promotion and that works really well. But as for product in the store, we didn’t have as much to push as we would like to.”

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Despite the uncertainty, there were still a few eager shoppers waiting outside prior to opening.

“That’s a good sign, right? When there’s nobody, you’ve got a big question mark over your head.”

For Hunter Heggie at King of Trade — a downtown retail store specializing in new and used items such as hockey cards, video games, and music — Black Friday is an exciting time.

He sees it as the kick-off to the holidays.

“This is fun, like we were looking forward to this, we’ve been preparing for it,” the owner said. “Stores (downtown) have been preparing for the the last month to get ready for today and for the Christmas season.”

But due to factors out of his control such as the evolution of online shopping, the growth of big box stores, and the COVID-19 pandemic, days like Black Friday aren’t what they used to be for Heggie.

“It’s not quite the same, there’s no doubt about it.

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“We’re grateful for the people of southern Alberta supporting the local businesses,” he added.

Best Buy’s sole Lethbridge location had all hands on deck in anticipation of the surge of shoppers.

Store leader Linda Oldford said around 20 people had lined-up ahead of opening Friday.

“There’s definitely a larger presence of online shopping and even curbside pickup,” she said.  “(That’s) an option that we introduced last year and we find that people are definitely taking advantage of that.”