Wal-Mart's Black Friday starts Thursday night
This year it wasn't deal sites providing a sneak peek of Wal-Mart's holiday shopping specials weeks ahead of time. It was the retailing giant itself.
This post comes from Melinda Fulmer at MSN Money.
At midnight Thursday, Wal-Mart released its own Black Friday ad to the Web -- a three-tiered sale, starting with a toy, video game and home sale at 10 p.m. Thanksgiving Day, followed by a midnight electronics sale, with the remaining deals available at 8 a.m. on Black Friday.
Retailers, desperate to court shoppers in this rough economy, are opening and advertising earlier to get strapped shoppers spending more at their stores.
The three different start times might be a bit confusing, but a number of deals Thanksgiving night may be hot enough to make some shoppers wait the two hours between sales, including:
- A 40-inch Emerson 1080p LCD HDTV for $248 at midnight
- Philips WiFi Blu-ray Home Theater for $178 at midnight
- HP AMD Dual-Core Desktop w/ 19-inch LCD monitor for $298 at midnight
- Sylvania Dual-Screen Portable DVD player for $59 at midnight
- Xbox 360 4GB console with Kinect plus a $50 Walmart gift card for $199, starting at 10 p.m.
- Newer video game titles including Battlefield 3 and Batman Arkham City for $28 each, at 10 p.m.
- Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure Starter Pack for $49.96 at 10 p.m.
Moreover, the store is offering decent deals on clothes, small appliances, DVDs and a $100 Wal-Mart gift card dangled to all smart phone buyers (with contract) on Black Friday. Post continues below.
"It's always worth a visit," says Brad Olson, founder of BlackFriday.Gottadeal.com.
And, as in years past, Wal-Mart could add more online-only deals to the mix in the days leading up to Black Friday.
Are these bargains hot enough to get you out braving the cold and crowds?
More on MSN Money:
Cloathes in particular aren't really worth it at Wal-Mart. I tried them once, the pair of pants was getting a hole in the crotch < 6 months after the fact. From a dept store, I've got pants that are wearable, without any holes or anything to show such age, which were bought 4-5 years ago.
As the phrase goes with that, you get what you pay for; and with cloathes in particular, buying em at Wal-Mart for your friends would only be a good idea if you really wanted to see their descrete areas by summer. On that? I'll pass....
Seaf G,... Have no fear about China. Walmart and their shoppers ahve all but destroyed the US,malls, down town stores, and poor struggling small business folks. They moved onto China a few years ago and now their small business folks who worked as street vendors and owned small shops are suffering. It is so sad.
PEOPLE , you want cheap prices AND you want to keep your factory jobs here and pay everyone with great expensive benefits and wages. You cannot have it both ways ! Choose to save our jobs buy doing what you can to buy American made, pay a bit more to keep our jobs here. Why have we decided to turn our backs on what our fathers and grandfathers told us ? USA !! Even the "foreign" cars are more American made now. Check out the percents in Honda, Ford and Chevy !
Buying cheap and promoting cheap is like the welfare system...it starts off looking like a good idea then you realize it is disruptive to our country. It makes victims out of people, making the choices we have less, not more. Once the ball starts rolling it is hard to get it to stop. Like welfare and the poor victims, you have a hard time coming out of it...Now, try to buy American ! NAFTA is the beginning of this mess and Wal-Mart is more than happy to help it along. Choose to pay more and do with less folks !! Choose quality over quantity. Choose one really nicely produced item over 10 cheap ones. Until we decide to quit filling our basements with junk,renting storage units to put our things in, and filling up under our Christmas trees just for the sake of having lots to open, instead of buying an item or two or "really wants", this will never change....
I do not like to shop at Wal-Mart. The minute I am in the store I cannot wait to leave. Their prices are not the lowest. Their products are not interesting. They were better years ago when Sam Walton was alive. At least then you might get a bargain at the clearance aisle - but not now. The store does not pay its employees enough. I just really hate Wal-Mart.
Most stores around here are open until at least 6pm on Turkey day. I'm waiting till the stores actually stay open on Christmas. My sister works retail, and she said a lot of people would work Christmas if it was double time. I just hope that the stores stay closed on that day. At least it is a given day off for everyone.
Happy shopping, all. I'm staying home this year, nothing new out on the sales and after 20+ years of going out on Friday, I'm looking forward to staying in bed till at least 7am.
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