Traditionally, Black Friday is held in the United States on the day following American Thanksgiving, and is largely regarded as the start of the holiday shopping season. It has been dubbed Black Friday because the days sales push many retailers profits into the black.
And this day of door-crashing deals has been steadily gaining momentum in Canada according to a recent BMO holiday spending report, 47 per cent of Canadians are planning to shop on Black Friday, up 15 per cent from 2012.
This year, 12 Vancouver BIAs West 4th, Commerical Drive, Mount Pleasant, Cambie Village, Downtown Vancouver, South Granville, Yaletown, West End, Gastown, Robson Street, Kerrisdale Village and Chinatown are teaming up to do Black Friday sales events across the city from November 29 to December 1.
For example, more than 50 of Gastowns finest shops (such as John Fluevog, Roden Gray, MO851, Aveda and Button Button), will be offering special deals all weekend long, and Gastowns cobblestone streets will be lined up with black and silver balloons beside the participating retailers.
A list of the BIAs Black Friday deals will go live on VancouverBIAPartnership.ca on Wednesday, Nov. 27 at 12:01am.
Pacific Centre will be open 7am to 9pm on Nov. 29, and will be giving away $10 Cadillac Fairview SHOP! CARD to the first 100 shoppers to arrive at guest services. The mall will post a list of sales on their website November 28 at 9pm.
The Godshopper of Black Friday in Canada, Pacific Centre parent Cadillac Fairview was the first, in 2012, to offer Canadians a widespread Black Friday option, including extended hours, sales and promotions comparable to those traditionally found in the US.
For more information, visit Shops.ca.
You can follow Kelsey Klassen on Twitter @kelseyklassen.
