Black Friday Changes From an Early Morning to a Midnight Sales Event

Black Friday was for the longest years a sales event that started in the early morning hours. 4am or 5am on Black Friday was the time the stores opened their doors. This year many large retailers moved up their Black Friday opening to midnight on Black Friday. The stores that changed their Black Friday to midnight include Target, Best Buy and Macy's. An exception is Sears. Walmart has had their stores open from Thanksgiving to Black Friday since the last years, but did not start to sell doorbuster deals until the morning. This year Walmart already starts at 10pm. They stick to the early morning opening. Black Friday is changing, but is it for the better? There has been some controversy around the impact of that change to retail employees. A Target employee launched an initiative on change.org that last time I have checked already has close to 200,000 supporters already.

For consumers the earlier opening hours are I think a welcome change. Shoppers do not have to bring a sleeping bag for standing in line. It will be still a reasonable hour when the Black Friday doorbuster deals start to get sold. For many hard-core Black Friday shoppers, sleeping on Mall parking lots also was part of the adventure. Of course if you want to play it save like this woman, you still need to camp on parking lots to secure the #1 spot in line for the Black Friday Sale.

The Change in the opening hours also makes it hard to estimate how soon you need to arrive to have a chance at the doorbuster deals. There are no past data points, besides at the stores that already opened earlier like ToysRUs. Speaking of ToysRUs, their Black Friday change this year is that they even start another hour earlier. Now the ToysRUs Black Friday doorbusters are already on sale at 9pm on Thanksgiving Day.

Black Friday 2011 is almost here - just 4 more days! At midnight Thanksgiving Day the big Black Friday Sales will launch online. Most retailers offer now 4-Day early Black Friday Sales. To plan your Black Friday Shopping refer to our Black Friday 2011 Ads Guide. I4U News provides you with complete coverage of Black Friday including buying guides, deal analyses, Black Friday Ads and more in our Black Friday Hub. Make sure you follow us on Twitter to no miss any Black Friday 2011 Deals. Read about the latest rumors and leaked Black Friday ads on Black Friday Countdown.

For Black Friday Experts:
Make your Black Friday Shopping List on Black Friday Mart to stay ahead of the crowds. 

 

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