Fewer Black Fridays in Canada, Longer Deals, Inflation Holds Back Spending – Nationwide

Canadians looking for Black Friday deals did so this year without facing long lines or crowded shopping malls.

Retailers have expanded their deals and offered similar discounts online for several weeks, taking some of the craziness out of the holiday shopping event.

Some big box stores in the Greater Toronto area, such as Best Buy and Walmart, didn’t have the usual early morning lineups that once represented Black Friday.

The Eaton Center in central Toronto looked busy at lunchtime, but it was closer to being a typical Friday rather than the crowds and queues it used to be. There seemed to be almost no shops with queues of waiting customers.

The city’s downtown area of ​​Queen Street West, home to H&M, Zara, Alicia and Aldo, similarly showed no signs of attracting shoppers.

Retail analyst Bruce Winder said Friday, “Black Friday is diluted as a physical shopping event with early morning trips to the stores.

“It’s almost like we’ve finally reached a tipping point where the time of day is more important than the day.”

Lisa Hutchison, managing partner at consultancy JC Williams Group, said the lengthening of Black Friday sales has made it less urgent for consumers to shop on any given day.

“You don’t have to stand in line,” she said Friday. “Most retailers already have sales for a good portion of the week.”

Shopper Amanda Ram said she usually comes to the Eaton Center to check out the Black Friday sales, even though COVID-19 has put them on hold.

She usually tries to get to the mall before the rush hour after work, but she still found that, although it was busy, it wasn’t as crowded as she remembered it before the pandemic.

Experts say overall Black Friday sales are expected to remain strong as inflation intensifies trading.

Still, the rising cost of living will lead customers to “cherry-pick” sales, Winder said.

Lam said she’s been more careful with her money as she’s shopping for the holidays this year. With inflation driving up the prices of mortgages and essentials, she feels she’s less likely to be lured in by the bargains, and she’s shopping online at her home before heading back to her mall. We are going to do a comparison.

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She thinks inflation is definitely affecting the number of people heading out for shopping and vacations this weekend.

“It has to stick in people’s minds.”

Winder said stores offering super deals of up to 70% off will be busy, while retailers offering more modest discounts won’t see the same traffic online or in stores.

“If you’re a retailer and you’re trying to run something for 25-30% off, it’s not going to sell,” he said.

Some retailers, especially those with high inventory levels such as apparel, may offer more sales in store than online.

“If the goods are already there and space is scarce, they will want to turn it into cash, especially if they don’t have the space to pack it up and store it for another year,” Winder said. increase.

Meanwhile, after years of pandemic health restrictions, in-store shopping is expected to make a comeback this holiday season, including Black Friday.

Cadillac Fairview executive vice president of operations Sal Iacono said in an emailed statement:

The company, which operates numerous shopping malls around the country, including Toronto’s Eaton Center and Vancouver’s Pacific Center, has seen retailers extend promotions for extended periods of time, but Black Friday is still a big shopping day. I expect it to be, he said. .

“We expect Black Friday to be one of the busiest shopping days in all retail centers and we look forward to continuing this momentum throughout the season,” said Iacono.

Still, some Canadians are anxious to get back to shopping in person, while others prefer to buy holiday gifts online.

Bradley Thompson, who lives in Oakville, Ontario, said he plans to do all his Christmas shopping on Black Friday but won’t set foot in the store.

“I’m not an in-store shopper. I’m a true millennial in the sense that I do all my shopping online,” he said.

“My personal challenge is to get all my Christmas shopping done during the Black Friday sale.”

While he typically checks sales at big companies like Amazon, Walmart, and Best Buy, Thompson says he’s also shopping more on Etsy and smaller local businesses online.

Overall, he said, the Black Friday deals he encountered were good, but not great.

“The discount rate doesn’t seem to be as steep as it used to be, but it’s been going on for a little longer,” Thompson said.

“Inflation is crazy right now, so it would be helpful if I could save even a little bit.”

– With files from Rosa Saba in Toronto.