Black Friday is Coming: Get your Running Shoes On

The Christmas holiday is quickly approaching and every store is gearing up for Black Friday. You may be asking what is Black Friday.

Well Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving, when all the stores are having the biggest sales of the Christmas season. In this article are a few tips to make Black Friday work for you. Black Friday got it’s name from the fact that on this day the stores finally come out of the red and into the black. This is when they make their money. Christmas is the biggest season for retail stores.

The Christmas season can single handily make the stores money for the year. The retail stores know this and they prey on shoppers with enticing deals and steals on Black Friday. Look for the AD papers which typically come out on the Sunday before Thanksgiving.

Look over your ads and mark down the items that you are interested in buying. Then get your running shoes on and the java in your hand, you’ll need both. Black Friday shopping typically starts as early as 5 am. But you will want to be up and going much earlier than that. The day before, after you scarf down all that turkey, make a map of your shopping plans. Here are few tips to help you plan.

If you are looking for electronic items then plan to hit those first, as they will be the first to sell out. The next items should be the children’s toys or tools. Both of these will be quick to sell out. The rest is a crap shoot, you will have to hope that what you want is still left when you get to it. When making your plans be sure to look at the times that the stores open and plan to be at the first store at least 45 minutes early. Typically Wal-Mart opens at 5 am and it is a good idea to get there early.

You may just get a glimpse of what you are waiting for. Stand by because when the plastic wrap comes off it can be a dog fight to get you wanted item. Just remember your safety is more important than that Playstation. Be sure to get in and out of the stores as quickly as possible. Here are a few tips to help you do that. Make a date of this with a girlfriend, sister, or husband and work together. You can go about this one of two ways, divide and conquer or work as a team.

If you take the divide and conquer route than make sure that you are able to communicate in case there is a substitution and make a clear plan ahead of time as to who is getting what. You can do this by hitting different stores at the same time to not miss any of the opening times. If you go for the team work route than also have phones or walkie talkies handy. Keep an open line of communications going. One can go for the items while the other waits in line as sometimes the lines can be outrageous.

This is particularly important in the toys stores. They tend to only have a few registers running and a huge crowd trying to get through them. It is not unusually to stand in line at a toy store for more than 45 minutes after you have shopped for your items. So have one shop while the other waits in line. This will help you be able to get to the next store faster. After the morning rush be sure to take a well deserved break before heading back out to pick up some more great deals. This is a great time to take a look at what you have and make a list of what you still need.

Some times if there is an abundance of an item left at the end of Black Friday the stores will mark it down to clear the way for more great items to come just weeks before Christmas. Use these tips and you will be sure to get those hot items at low prices that your kids and family are longing for.