As a serial sale rack shopper, I often chuckle at the deals that stores offer on Black Friday. It’s not that there isn’t a few steals in the bunch, but most of the time stores discount in ways that market to the least common denominator, the common person who believes discounts on Black Friday must be better than every other day of the year.
Certainly for a few key electronics purchases stores may offer big discounts to lure shoppers in. But then, you get stores like Banana Republic offering “35%” off their entire store merchandise. That sounds like a good deal, unless you were in the store last week when they were offering “40% off all full-priced tops.” Meanwhile, on Express (where I often pick up a few Black Friday Deals) the online store offers everything at 40% off. I’ve been at the mall too much in the last month for some reason, and every time I’ve gone into Express, they had one of their “buy one get one 50% sales” for shirts or jackets or other items.
The reason I like Black Friday at Express is that you can buy their suiting (which doesn’t seem to go on sale otherwise) at 40% off, which is a good deal. That’s until 12pm, they offer their suit jackets and pants and the rest of their store at 40% off online… if there’s anything left by the time you click around.
Other stores like NewEgg.com have pretty good electronics deals. You might get a good discount on a hot item, so it’s worth shopping around — but it often doesn’t require going into the store and getting trampled on by a stampede of  crazy shoppers — you can get many of the same deals online.
One of the biggest tricks I see is how some items are significantly discounted while others, which I’ve seen on sale racks in stores, are now online for the same or even a higher price marked “40% off their regular retail price.” So it’s best to buy items that you know the value of, and ones that don’t go on sale, and are available season after season.
So stay indoors, get up early (if you haven’t already) and search your favorite sites for the best deals. Stock up on items you’d buy anyway that never go on sale and are at a solid discount, like the suiting at Express.
What was your best Black Friday deal this year?
