After Thanksgiving Day Sales

Black Friday in The Woodlands

Hop out of bed and get to The Woodlands Mall early on Friday, November 25 to get your Merry on! Beginning at 6:00 AM at the South Main entrance (from The Courtyard), the first 500 shoppers who donate either two non-perishable items or $5 cash to Interfaith of The Woodlands Food Pantry will receive a "Mistle-totes" bag, packed with a $10 Shop Etc. Gift Card, a complimentary valet parking pass ($5 value), assorted samples and special offers from retailers at The Woodlands Mall. The Woodlands Mall Black Friday Mall Holiday Hours are 6:00 AM to 10:00 PM. The Woodlands Mall has extended hours the entire weekend, too, open 9:00 AM - 10:00 PM on Saturday, and 11:00 AM - 7:00 PM on Sunday.

Stores with Black Friday specials at The Woodlands Mall include: Macy's opens at 4 AM for Black Friday. Apparel, cosmetics, housewares and jewelry are on sale, and their Black Friday ad features coupons for additional savings. Biggest bargain at a glance? A 12-piece stainless steel cookware set for just $28 (regularly $100). Radio Shack's Black Friday sale starts Thursday if you shop online. Radio Shack's Black Friday ad includes such bargains as $60-100 off Garmin GPS units. Also at The Mall, Sears will open at 4:00 AM and is offering sales on many home appliances, tools, apparel and electronics. Inside their Black Friday ad, Sears is offering a Kenmore 10-piece, stainless steel, copper-bottom cooking set for only $94.99 (regularly $179.99). Other Woodlands Mall stores with Black Friday specials include Express, J C Penney and more.

Just across Lake Woodlands Drive from The Mall, stores in Pinecroft Center have Black Friday deals that make getting up early worth it. Best Buy will open for Black Friday at 12:00 AM (midnight), however Tickets will be handed out two hours prior to opening. The Best Buy Black Friday ad has tons of great deals, especially HDTVs. Jaw-dropping specials include an LG washer and dryer for $699.99 each, regularly $1,199.99 and a Samsung 55" LED TV for $999.99, regularly $2,099.99. OfficeMax is just a few doors down, and will open at 6:00 AM with such specials as $210 off an HP 15.6" laptop in their Black Friday ad, as well as bonus coupons available on the OfficeMax website starting Thanksgiving Day. Target is starting at 12:00 AM (midnight) on Black Friday, and offering steep discounts on several doorbuster items such as a toaster oven, crockpot or coffee maker for $19 each. There's also a TomTom GPS unit for $89 (regularly $189) in Target's Black Friday ad. Toys R Us is having a 2-day sale for Black Friday. Their sale starts 10 PM on Thursday, with many toys available for a fraction of their normal price. A look through the their Black Friday ad reveals such specials as the Canon Powershoot Point-and-Shoot camera for $60 off, regularly $159.99. And it wouldn't be Toys R Us without the Big Toy Book!

Elsewhere in The Woodlands, Kohl's is offering over 500 early bird specials for Black Friday. The sales start at 12:00 AM (midnight) on Black Friday and go until midnight on Saturday. Kohl's Black Friday ad includes specials like a fushia CHI 1" flat iron for $79.99, regularly $139.99. Walmart's Black Friday sale is actually in three parts; toys from 10:00 PM on Thanksgiving night, electronics starting at midnight and then additional electronics and more starting at 8:00 AM on Friday. The WalMart Black Friday ad includes such doorbusters as an LG Blu-ray player with WiFi for $89. Walmart is also offering free shipping online for nearly 60,000 items, including most electronics, through December 20.

And be sure to check out the Black Friday ads for Lowe's in College Park; Sports Authority, Old Navy and Sam's Club (for members only) in the Portofino Center; Office Depot across the freeway in Oak Ridge North and of course, CVS and Walgreens all throughout The Woodlands. Good Luck out there!

Black Friday Ads

Black Friday as a term has been used in multiple contexts going back to the nineteenth century, where it was associated with a financial crisis in 1869. The earliest uses of "Black Friday" to mean the day after Thanksgiving come from or reference the city of Philadelphia and refer to the heavy traffic on that day. In more recent history, however, Black Friday, and its online counterpart, Cyber Monday, has become a day that traditionally incites thousands of consumers to stand in line for hours in advance of early-morning store openings. Some even “camp out” in makeshift recliners and sleeping bags outside of major retail locations waiting for a best buy. All of these people with one thing in mind – getting in on what is sure to be the best sale of the season.

According to John Squire, chief strategy officer for Coremetics, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, "We see a lot of retailers looking at what happened the past [few years] and they are starting to roll out their Black Friday promotions earlier…there is a certain amount of cash and retailers want to strike early while it is still there," Coremetics gathers information about consumers' online behavior for retailers including Macy's Inc., Abercrombie & Fitch Co., Costco Wholesale Corp. and J.C. Penney Co. Retailers are again advertising aggressively as this is the third year up against a relatively later Thanksgiving, with the holiday falling on November 25, just one day earlier than last year and several days later than in past years, shortening the traditional Christmas shopping season.

Will recent news and the ongoing recession alter Black Friday? Will customers faced with shrinking retirement funds and job worries have the thirst, or more troubling, the financial ability to shop? Amongst the concerns of the populace, there remains a black cloud over the unstable economy; Retailers are concerned that shoppers may not turn out on November 26 with the same degree of deal-hunting fervor as they have in years past on the day known as Black Friday.

After a ho-hum 2009 and a disastrous 2008, holiday retail sales are expected to increase a more moderate 2.3 percent this year to $447.1 billion, according to the National Retail Federation. While that growth remains slightly lower than the ten-year average holiday sales increase of 2.5 percent, it would be a marked improvement from both last year’s 0.4 percent uptick and the dismal 3.9 percent holiday sales decline retailers experienced in 2008. And the National Retail Federation predicts average holiday spending this year will be around $688.87 on holiday-related shopping, a slight rise from last year’s $681.83.

Black Friday may also be losing its single day appeal. Several retailers have already begun aggressive sales tactics typically reserved for the day after Thanksgiving sales as they desperately try to pull shoppers in. Could this mean that 2010 Black Friday Sales will be even better with retailers bringing in so-called door-busters, like limited numbers of very low-priced TVs or highly discounted apparel, to get customers excited? Will deal-hungry shoppers be expecting even deeper discounts? Moves taken now could help stave off some of the last minute panic seen in years past - not by shoppers, but by retailers who could, even with their slimmed down inventories, end up overstocked once the holidays end if customers don't turn out.

Indeed, one has to wonder if the increased number of “leaked” Black Friday ads online are the result of a mistake, or if retailers intentionally allowed the leaks in order to entice customers earlier on in the season, guaranteeing a better turnout in traffic and higher profits. Several websites are offering sneak peeks of the leaked Black Friday ads, such as those from Kmart, Kohl’s, OfficeMax, Staples and Target.

As in years past, shopping malls and stores will be extending hours and many stores will offer scratch cards or other promotional materials with deep discounts. Because of this, even with the staggered discounts throughout the holiday season, consumers are still likely to turn out on the true Black Friday. Shoppers are likely accustomed to the discounts they're seeing now, and because Black Friday is the 'day of all days' for discounts, they will expect more.