The Ultimate Guide to Black Friday Shopping

By Brittany Loeffler on November 25, 2019

Black Friday is a day when retail stores have incredible sales and deals on the year’s most popular items. Falling on the day after Thanksgiving every year, many consumers will leave their houses in the early hours of the morning to stand in line and wait for a store to open so they can be the first to get their hands on a new television or the latest version of the Apple Watch for a highly discounted price.

It’s a hectic day, which means shoppers who would like to participate in Black Friday shopping should prepare before they go out into the crowded aisles and mall hallways. Here is your ultimate guide to your Black Friday shopping extravaganza.

black friday

via Pixabay

Review Store Advertisements

Days and sometimes even weeks before Black Friday, major retail stores such as Target and Best Buy will release their Black Friday store advertisements. You can take it back old school and pick up a newspaper from your local gas station or grocery store or you can get them online. These flyers contain the store’s best specials and offers on the year’s hottest items. To make sure you don’t miss out on any of these incredible deals, take some time and look through the store flyers. From this, you can start making your shopping list of what to buy and at which store.

Make a Shopping List

Many people take Black Friday as an opportunity to start their Christmas gift shopping. So, before going out no this hectic shopping day, think about what your loved ones would like in their Christmas stocking or under their tree this year. When you create a shopping list, you will stay organized in the craziness that is Black Friday. It will also give you direction as to what items you should be searching for and which stores you should visit. Match up your shopping list with the store flyers and you’ll be sure to find the best deals in town.

Have a Route

Once you know what kind of deals are out there and have created your shopping list, it’s time to plan out the route you’ll take to each store. To begin your plan, think about the item you would like to buy the most and plan to go to that store first. Chances are other people will also want the item, so you don’t want to find it sold out! Some stores also have certain specials until a specific time of the day, which you should also take into consideration.

Download Shopping Apps

On top of getting fantastic Black Friday deals, you can also use coupons to decrease that bill even more! Long gone are the days of clipping coupons, though. Now you can download shopping apps right to your phone and have thousands of coupons right at your fingertips. Take a look before you go shopping for coupons from the stores you plan to go to. You may be surprised at just how much you can save with an extra coupon.

Get Plenty of Rest

We all know that turkey makes us sleepy after we eat it. Take advantage of this food-induced stupor and go to bed early on Thanksgiving night. It isn’t uncommon for stores to open at midnight on Thanksgiving or very early Black Friday morning. With such a hectic day of shopping and dealing with crowds, you’re going to want to get a good night’s sleep beforehand, especially with all of the walking you’ll do around the mall.

Also, make sure to drink plenty of water and bring some small snacks with you. Nobody likes being with a hungry and cranky shopper on Black Friday!

Prepare for Large Crowds

It’s important to mentally prepare for large crowds when going Black Friday shopping. When you go out with the expectation that you will be driving around parking lots for ten minutes trying to find a spot and standing in long lines for the cashier, you will be much less annoyed when you are actually doing these things. There will be many people shopping around, so try to be patient if someone is in your way or people are taking a long time in the dressing rooms. You’ve probably heard horror stories about customers getting into arguments over a product and you definitely do not want to be one of those people.

There’s Always Cyber Monday

Black Friday shopping isn’t for everyone. Many people just want to lounge around the house the day after Thanksgiving, especially with so many delicious leftovers waiting for them in the fridge. Thanks to online shopping, people can now wait until Cyber Monday to get incredible sales and specials without leaving the comfort of their own home. For the Black Friday shoppers, if there was a deal that you missed while out, you can always check online to see if there is an even better one!

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