Asda stores here in the UK are having a “Walmart Black Friday Sale” today.
Doesn’t seem to make any sense, but there you are.
Several chains in Spain were doing it last year and are repeating. Some international, such as Media Markt, but I don’t know whether they’re holding Black Friday sales in all their locations or not. As far as I can tell, MM doesn’t have US locations… but who knows who the hell owns them? I don’t, and I’m too lazy to search.
There’s a CBC Marketplacearticle about it.
Q107 has dozens of ads about Black Friday, and lots of the Toronto stores are trying to make a big deal of it. I don’t really get it - I hate shopping at the best of times, and shopping when the stores are crowded and frenzied just makes it that much worse. And the idea of driving to Buffalo and back for ‘bargains’ has no appeal, either.
But they’re not marketing to all Canadians they’re marketing to the subset of Canadians who travel to the US to shop.
I walked into our new Target (open for about 3 weeks now) and turned around and walked right back out. The lines went from the cash to the back of the store and I had no desire to wait. Judging from the parking lot they are still doing a booming business.
It’s been interesting to compare Walmart / Target here in Niagara Falls, ON. Target actually took over retail space that had been abandoned by Walmart when they built a bigger store on the outskirts of town a couple of years ago.
The Old Walmart/New Target is in an awkward location at the end of of a street that dead-ends at a highway overpass. One way in and one way out made for massive gridlock at the entrance intersection during prime shopping periods and I have no doubt that this was at least one factor in Walmart’s decision to move. It was certainly a great relief to me when they did since I have to drive through that intersection twice a day for work.
Of course, that joy turned to dread when I heard that Target was moving in. In the weeks before Target’s grand opening I was steeling myself for a return to stop-start, bumper-to-bumper traffic and random episodes of road rage but then something miraculous happened…nothing.
It seems that nobody gives a shit about Target. Walmart’s parking lot was almost always full or near-full but Target’s is only half-full on a busy day. The store, itself, is poorly laid out with half-empty shelves as far as the eye can see and whatever stock they do have is mediocre or no cheaper than elsewhere. Which is a shame since I despise Walmart.
But at least my commute remains stress-free.
I saw a few when I visited last year, and I thought it was weird. Hey, you should all shop on this completely unimportant Friday because we’re telling you to! I guess it’s inevitable, though, given all the Black Friday ads that come through on the US TV stations. I have several Montreal friends who take a day off and head to Plattsburgh or Burlington for some shopping on Black Friday and think it’s a real hoot. I live in the states now, and I cower in my home till it’s all over. I have errands to run, I have a day off, but no way am I venturing out to fight for a parking spot and wait in line for an hour so I can buy my Chapstick and Tylenol.
I’m surprised to hear that Target isn’t doing too well in Canada. Mom was super excited for the one opening up near her, because she loves going to Target when she visits me.
Here in Southern Ontario they are trying pretty hard.
I’ve heard all of the Cadillac Fairview malls are opening early, and this week I was in a Fortinos grocery store and they had “Black Frideh” signs. Har-de-har-har… Fortinos is part of Loblaws, so perhaps these signs are in differently-branded stores as well…
That pretty much matches Krispy Kreme’s US debut too. They blew up big a few years ago and now you can barely find one.
I think the problem with Target breaking into Canada is that our Walmart just isn’t all that bad. From what I understand, Americans favor Target because Walmart is, well, just look at People of Walmart. But in Canada, Walmart doesn’t have that ghetto reputation. It’s just another big box store.
Well, there’s also the stupid Canadians that expected American prices in a Canadian store…