Black Friday usually brings fear to my mind. I have a clear image in my head of an elderly woman being smacked in the head after triumphantly getting her hands on a discounted smartphone and having it snatched from her hands. I also shudder at the memory of having a computer malfunction moments before the clothing store I worked at in high school was slated to open, which delayed the opening and caused angry shoppers to scream at me through the glass door. Oh, Black Friday.
But I’ve found my own ways to turn the fear into something fun and productive. Every year, millions of Americans have to stop and ask themselves, “Is this really worth it?” If you have to have this debate, it may mean you're not doing Black Friday right. It’s not just about knowing where the deals are, but where the deals are the least known.
For example, for anyone looking for a unique gift for the fashion fanatic in their lives, plan to visit Anthropologie between the slightly more doable hours of 6 a.m. to 11 a.m. Their sale items are an extra 50 percent off during this time, and even after that time window closes, they will still be 25 percent off. An additional perk: They don’t widely advertise their Black Friday sale, meaning you’ll have more than a half-foot of room to move around and roam the store.
The trick here is to focus on smaller, independent stores if you’re going out on Black Friday. With the bigger stores, like Wal-Mart or Target, there’s an anything goes, survival-of-the-fittest atmosphere. The smaller a store, the more civility you’ll find. This mostly applies to clothing stores, considering most of the best electronic deals go through the larger stores, but if you’re looking for a less stressful way to buy electronics in person, RadioShack opens at 8 a.m. and is having deals on smartphones, speakers, tablets and more.
It’s also important to have a list in mind. Even the tame stores can get hectic, making it much harder to figure out what to buy if you don’t already know.
If you’re timid, claustrophobic or just don’t have the drive to camp out in front of the mall after stuffing yourself with a Thanksgiving feast, you may want to avoid in-person Black Friday shopping and take advantage of online Black Friday deals and Cyber Monday. They kind of make you stop and think what the point of all the stampedes and trampling is when you can shop from the safety of your own home.
If you’re an early bird, you can jump on the deals now with Amazon.com, which is doing count down to Black Friday deals this year, putting more deals on their website each day. There’s deal on everything from baby toys, to hiking gear to electronics.
HSN.com will also be offering online deals of 50 percent off selected items, including beauty products, televisions and cameras. Nordstrom.com is also a great option, as their Black Friday sales cut prices of items like Sperry Top-Siders in half. Even better, because they sell apparel for men, women, teens and kids, it makes a great one-stop-shopping store.
If all else fails and you miss a couple of things on your list, there’s always a plethora of Cyber Monday deals in the days following Black Friday.
Always remember to just have fun with it. Don’t be that person smacking some little old lady in the head for a smartphone.
Reach the reporter at mefinley@asu.edu or follow her on Twitter @mollyEfinley
