Black Friday off to muted start in stores as deals spread out, offers matched online
Black Friday off to muted start in stores as deals spread out, offers matched online
Canadians hunting for Black Friday deals did so without facing long lines or crowded shopping malls this year, as an extended period of sales and decades-high inflation weighs on consumers and prompts some to rein in spending.
Retailers have stretched deals over several weeks and offered similar discounts online, taking some of the frenzy out of the holiday shopping event.
Several big box stores in the Greater Toronto Area, such as Best Buy and Walmart, lacked the usual early morning lineups that once epitomized Black Friday.
The Eaton Centre in the heart of Toronto appeared busy around lunchtime, but closer to a typical Friday rather than swarming with the crowds and queues seen in previous years. Few stores appeared to have lines of waiting customers.
A busy stretch of the city's Queen Street West, which includes H&M, Zara, Aritzia and Aldo stores, similarly didn't show signs of additional shoppers.
"We're seeing a dilution of Black Friday as a physical shopping event where you go to the store early in the morning," retail analyst Bruce Winder said Friday.
"It's finally sort of hit that tipping point where it's much less about the day and it's more about the shopping period."
The elongation of Black Friday sales has lessened the urgency for consumers to shop on one particular day, said Lisa Hutcheson, managing partner at consulting firm J.C. Williams Group.
"The need to line up isn't as necessary," she said Friday. "Most of the retailers have been on sale a good portion of the week already."
Shopper Amanda Ram said she normally comes to the Eaton Centre to check out Black Friday deals, though COVID-19 put a pause on that.
She said she normally tries to hit the mall before the after-work rush, but though it was busy she still noticed it wasn't as packed as she remembered from before the pandemic -- fewer and shorter lines, for one.
Overall Black Friday sales are expected to be strong as inflation intensifies the hunt for deals, experts say.
Yet the rising cost of living will also lead customers to "cherry pick" sales, Winder said.
Ram said she's being more careful with her money as she shops for the holidays this year. With inflation driving up the price of her mortgage and everyday essentials, she feels less likely to get caught up in the allure of a great deal, and plans to do some online comparison at home before heading back to the mall.
She said she thinks inflation is definitely affecting how many people shop this weekend and heading into the holidays.
"It's got to be on people's minds."
Stores that offer blowout deals of up to 70 per cent off will be busy while retailers with more tepid discounts won't see the same traffic online or in stores, Winder said.
"If you're a retailer and you're trying to move something at 25 or 30 per cent off -- it ain't gonna sell," he said.
Some retailers, especially those with high levels of inventory such as apparel, will likely offer bigger sales in stores than online.
"If the merchandise is already there and they're running short on space, they'll want to turn it into cash -- especially if they don't have room to pack it up and hold it for another year," Winder said.
Meanwhile, after years of pandemic health restrictions, shopping in brick-and-mortar stores is expected to make a comeback this holiday season, including on Black Friday.
"We continue to see increased levels and excitement for in-person shopping across all our 18 shopping centres," Sal Iacono, executive vice-president of operations for Cadillac Fairview, said in an emailed statement.
The company, which operates a number of malls across the country including the Eaton Centre in Toronto and the Pacific Centre in Vancouver, has seen retailers extend promotions over a longer period of time but still expects Black Friday to be a big shopping day, he said.
"We anticipate Black Friday to be one of the busiest shopping days at all our retail centres and we are looking forward to continuing to see the prolonged momentum throughout the entire season," Iacono said.
Still, while some Canadians are eager to return to in-person shopping, others now prefer to do their holiday gift-buying online.
Bradley Thompson of Oakville, Ont., said he plans to do all his Christmas shopping on Black Friday -- but won't be stepping foot in a store.
"I'm not a big in-store shopper. I'm a real millennial in the sense that I'll be doing all my shopping online," he said.
"As a personal challenge, I try to get all of my Christmas shopping done during the Black Friday sales."
He usually checks the sales at the big players like Amazon, Walmart and Best Buy, but Thompson said he's increasingly also shopping at Etsy and smaller local businesses online.
Overall, he said the Black Friday deals he's come across are good -- but not great.
"The discounts don't seem to be quite as steep as they used to be but they run them a little bit longer," Thompson said.
"Inflation is crazy right now though, so every little bit I can save helps."
-- With files from Rosa Saba in Toronto.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 25, 2022.
A gay man is taking the federal government to court, challenging the constitutionality of a policy restricting sexually active gay and bisexual men from donating to sperm banks in Canada, CTV News has learned.
A Quebec woman said she was very surprised to find her stolen Audi had been used in what’s being described as an “absolutely insane” Ontario mall robbery.
A gay man issues a court challenge over Canada's policy restricting sperm bank donations, a Quebec woman is surprised to find her stolen car had been used in brazen Ontario robbery, and actor Ryan Reynolds drops by a Toronto college and surprises students. Here's what you need to know to start your day.
When the opera 'La Flambeau' premieres next week in Montreal, Black performers will be front and centre in an artistic medium where they have historically been under-represented.
In Washington progress on police brutality appears difficult, if not unlikely. Bipartisan efforts to reach an agreement on policing legislation stalled more than a year ago, and President Joe Biden ended up instead signing an executive order named for George Floyd, whose murder at the hands of Minneapolis police set off nationwide protests nearly three years ago.
A suicide bomber who killed 101 people at a mosque in northwest Pakistan this week had disguised himself in a police uniform and did not raise suspicion among guards, the provincial police chief said on Thursday.
A Quebec woman said she was very surprised to find her stolen Audi had been used in what’s being described as an “absolutely insane” Ontario mall robbery.
On CTVNews.ca and YouTube: Health journalist Avis Favaro joins our Trend Line podcast, for an in-depth episode dedicated to the growing crises facing the Canadian health-care system.
Nearly a year since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, community organizers say there is still work to be done to help the thousands of Ukrainian refugees looking to start a new life in Canada while coping with the hardships they've faced coming here.
A suicide bomber who killed 101 people at a mosque in northwest Pakistan this week had disguised himself in a police uniform and did not raise suspicion among guards, the provincial police chief said on Thursday.
Top European Union officials arrived in Kyiv on Thursday for talks with Ukrainian officials as rescue crews dug through the rubble of an apartment building in eastern Ukraine struck by a Russian missile, killing at least three people and wounding about 20 others.
Israeli aircraft carried out several raids at a militant site in the Gaza Strip early Thursday, the Israeli military said, hours after Palestinian militants fired a rocket into Israel's south, raising already heightened tensions under the country's new ultranationalist government.
North Korea on Thursday threatened the 'toughest reaction' to the United States' expanding joint military exercises with South Korea to counter the North's growing nuclear weapons ambitions, claiming that the allies were pushing tensions to an 'extreme red line.'
The Biden administration released a long-awaited study Wednesday that recommends allowing a major oil development on Alaska's North Slope that supporters say could boost U.S. energy security but that climate activists decry as a 'carbon bomb.'
A gay man is taking the federal government to court, challenging the constitutionality of a policy restricting sexually active gay and bisexual men from donating to sperm banks in Canada, CTV News has learned.
Dominic Barton, the former global managing director of McKinsey & Company, says he had no involvement in federal contracts awarded to the firm in recent years.
On CTVNews.ca and YouTube: Health journalist Avis Favaro joins our Trend Line podcast, for an in-depth episode dedicated to the growing crises facing the Canadian health-care system.
Lawmakers in Finland approved amendments Wednesday that will make it substantially easier for people to change their legally recognized gender in the Nordic country.
New guidelines on long-term care services by the Health Standards Organization say residents should receive at least four hours of direct care each day. If you or a loved one are living in long-term care, we want to hear from you.
After a tiny radioactive capsule went missing in the Australian outback, an expert in Canada says the likelihood of the same happening in this country is unlikely, given our strong regulations governing the handling of radioactive materials.
An archeological team from Saint Mary's University will travel to France this summer to use ground-penetrating radar and other technology to assist a United States defence agency recover and identify military personnel missing since the Second World War.
Scientists in Japan may have unlocked the key to recreating how plants perform photosynthesis, according to a new study, potentially paving the way for new ways to harvest solar energy.
When the opera 'La Flambeau' premieres next week in Montreal, Black performers will be front and centre in an artistic medium where they have historically been under-represented.
Missy Elliott, Willie Nelson, Kate Bush, Iron Maiden, Cyndi Lauper, Soundgarden, Sheryl Crow and the late George Michael are the 2023 nominees for induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, reflecting a mix of country, soul, hip-hop, metal, pop, rap-rock and grunge.
Hindenburg Research, the financial research firm with an explosive name and a track record of sending the stock prices of its targets tumbling, is taking on one of the world's richest men. Hindenburg is back in the headlines after last week accusing Indian conglomerate Adani Group of 'a brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme.'
A report from an investor-focused advocacy group raises questions about how well some of Canada's biggest investors are meeting their climate commitments. The report from Investors for Paris Compliance (IPC) looks at the voting records on shareholder proposals by 19 Canadian members of Climate Action 100+, a global coalition with around 700 members representing over $68 trillion in assets under management.
As Black History Month gets underway, Canada Post has unveiled a new stamp honouring Chloe Cooley, a young Black woman who was known to challenge her enslavement in the late 18th century.
A team of preteen Ukrainian refugees that have been scattered across Europe by war arrived Wednesday in Quebec City, where they'll get the chance to compete in a renowned hockey tournament.
John Herdman is staying put. After a morning of speculation fuelled by a New Zealand report that the Canada men's soccer coach had agreed to take over the 105th-ranked All Whites, Herdman and Canada Soccer put out the fire with a statement Wednesday.
Brittney Griner's return to the WNBA this summer after being traded in a dramatic prisoner swap in December with Russia has collided with free agency, creating potential travel complications for the league out of safety concerns for her.
A good winter tire will always outperform an all-season tire in snowy, icy driving conditions and be the safer alternative. Edmunds' experts explain the importance of winter tires and offer advice on when to use them and how much you should pay.
The U.S. Justice Department has requested documents from Tesla related to its Autopilot and 'Full Self-Driving' features, according to a regulatory filing.
Europe is taking another big step toward cutting its energy ties with Russia, banning imports of diesel fuel and other products made from crude oil in Russian refineries. The European Union ban takes effect Feb. 5 following its embargo on coal and most oil from Russia.
