NAPA VALLEY REGISTER
SHOPPING | ADVICE
What to expect during
this year’s holiday-weekend sales
KIPLINGER CONSUMER NEWS SERVICE
W
ith Thanksgiving upon us, it’s
time to start planning for the big-
gest shopping period of the year.
With many shoppers planning to spend
less on gifts this holiday season, deals are
likely to be in higher demand than ever be-
fore, so it will pay to be prepared.
When does Black Friday start?
While Black Friday itself remains a key
day for deals, many retailers have stopped
limiting themselves to just one day’s worth
of discounts. Nowadays, plenty of stores
plan massive deal periods that can begin
days or even weeks in advance of the day
after Thanksgiving.
Typically, sales now run over the entire
Black Friday weekend and lead into Cyber
Monday, the online shopping equivalent.
This means we expect Black Friday sales
to finally wind down on Tuesday, Nov. 28,
and then the holiday sales begin.
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HOLIDAYS 2023
What should you expect?
Expect discounts, and a whole lot of
them. If you take a look back at previous
years, you’ll spot deals on sought-after
kitchen gadgets like air fryers, TVs, Ama-
zon own-brand devices, laptops and com-
puters, gaming, toys, fashion and practi-
cally anything else you could think of.
These days, you can also get a solid idea
of the discounts to come by heading to the
websites of online retailers like Amazon
or big-box stores like Walmart, Best Buy
and Target to find out all the information
about their sales days, including Black Fri-
day store hours and how to access the best
bargains. Clue: it usually requires joining
their membership program.
Is Black Friday worth it?
The answer to this question is entirely
dependent on whether you were planning
on spending the cash before Black Friday.
HOLIDAY EDITION • NOVEMBER 22-23, 2023 |
Black Friday history
The first recorded mention of the
phrase was in November 1951, in the
journal “Factory Management and Main-
tenance,” where it was used to describe
people taking sick leave after Thanks-
giving to get a four-day weekend.
In the early 1960s, traffic-weary police
in Philadelphia were using Black Friday
and Black Saturday to refer to the ter-
rible traffic that started to appear over
Thanksgiving weekend.
Black Friday is now synonymous with
pre-Christmas deals in countries all over
the globe.
If you were looking to make a big pur-
chase like upgrading a TV or you’re looking
to do the bulk of your holiday shopping at
this time of year, there’s every chance that
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you could make some great savings with
Black Friday deals.
That being said, not all deals are cre-
ated equally; sometimes, prices on certain
goods will shoot up in the weeks leading up
to Black Friday, meaning that the “saving”
you’re getting isn’t actually as
good as it looks.
To get the most out
of Black Friday, plan
ahead. Make a list of
some of the things
you’re looking for, and
set a budget that you can
reasonably stick to. By de-
ciding what items, brands or
models you’re in the market for
ahead of time, you can more easily nav-
igate the deals or take a little bit of the
stress out of shopping in-store.
And with a budget in mind and a list in
hand, you might be less likely to overspend
or be tempted by impulse buys.