Early Christmas Shopping Deals

It’s that time of year again!  The Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals are gradually getting posted as we eagerly wait to see how good or bad the discounts are this year.  For those who may not know, Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving.  It’s a day when many businesses make a profit and are in the black.  It’s also a day when greed takes over many people and bad things can happen.  Cyber Monday is the online version of Black Friday happening the Monday after Thanksgiving when people go back to work and apparently spend the day shopping online…

Going from personal experience, when the economy is good, there are a lot of freebies and awesome discounts.  When the economy isn’t great, the deals aren’t great either.  However, this year many businesses are taking part in online pre-Black Friday sales and not waiting until Thanksgiving weekend.  I’ve looked through some of the deals and so far there isn’t anything that has sparked my interest.  I’d love a new digital SLR camera, but the deals I’ve seen for both the pre-sales and Black Friday aren’t good enough to warrant a purchase.  See the below links for posted Black Friday ads and the pre-Black Friday sales that are happening right now!

Do you have a favorite Black Friday site you go to? Mine is GottaDeal which shows bargains all year long on a forum, but also has a Black Friday site that lists the Black Friday ads as they come out.  The following ads are currently listed:

1. Gander Mountain
2. Gymboree
3. Half Price Books
4. Harbor Freight
5. Kmart
6. Lowe’s
7. Old Navy
8. Sears
9. Tanger Outlets

“Become” also has a Black Friday deals area.  One thing I like about their site is that you can click on a general item you’re interested in purchasing, such as digital cameras, and they’ll show you every store that has that item on Black Friday.

Many of the following stores have been in the news because of their early deals, so I’ll summarize what they’re offering for you here.

CVS and CVS Holiday

• Offering weekly deals.

Kmart

• Offering online layaway in addition to in-store layaway.

Kohls

• Power Hour pricing on November 6 and 7 (this Friday and Saturday).  There will be many deals and stores will be open until midnight.
• Redeem Kohl’s Cash and Pick-Your-Day savings.
• Save 20% on toys already marked 10-40% off.

Sears

• Every Friday at 5pm through Saturday morning – “Black Friday Now” features weekly deals through Christmas.
• Every Saturday 7am-12noon – doorbuster deals
• Offering a credit for any November-release book you have purchased through Amazon.com, Target.com, or Walmart.com.  Use the credit on a purchase over $45 at Sears.com.

Target

• Toys for $10 each through the holiday season.
• Daily deals on their site.

Toys ‘R Us

• Plans to open 80 temporary stores across the country.
• Offering layaway on big-ticket items.
• The 2009 Toys ‘R Us Big Toy Book arrived on Nov. 1.
• From November 1 through Thanksgiving Thursday, they are offering gift cards and freebies with purchases among other savings.

Vistaprint

• 50% off 2010 calendars, holiday Cards and many holiday products
• Free shipping on orders over $50
• Up to 50% off custom photo gifts

Walmart

• 100 toys for $10 each through the holiday season.
• Popular books will be selling for $8.98.
• 2 for $30 specials on Nintendo Wii games.
• Saturday (11/7/2009) – pre-Black Friday sale.  Hot deals include a Sharp 42″ LCD HDTV for $498 and an Xbox 360 System with free $100 Gift Card for $199.
• Walmart.com has also started a “Deal of the Day” where they will be selling one item each day at a Black Friday-level price. Today’s deal is a 32″ LCD HDTV for just $298 with free in-store pickup.

Do you participate in Black Friday?  Why or why not?  What’s the best deal you’ve found? Is there anything you have your eye on this year?