Black Friday is often seen as a great way to get good deals. Yet, since so many people plan to shop on that day, I’m not sure vendors have that much incentive to lower their prices. Black Friday is pretty much a continuation of the high retail trading period that starts on Thanksgiving.
So, do prices come down and stay at that level from Black Friday onward?
Do prices go even lower later in December or January?
After Christmas there are good sales and lots of them, but it’s of Christmas merchandise that didn’t sell, so the selection can be limited. Clothing retailers will usually begin to dump winter stock soon after Christmas, for example. I always try to get pajamas at Victoria’s Secret’s post-Christmas sale, but all the good patterns are usually gone.
What Sattua said. If it was a very, very slow Xmas feeding frenzy, you MIGHT find some great stuff at great prices. Most years, though, you’re going to find stuff that’s been seriously picked over, and some of it will be rather shopworn. This is particularly true of clothing, because most people are going to want to wear this year’s fashions during this year, and there’s the perception, at least, that it’s really too late to buy winter clothing after Christmas, as you won’t get that much wear out of it.
On the other hand, if you can drag yourself into a store before New Year, you might find some pretty good bargains, because the stores don’t want to inventory stuff (and pay taxes on it) for the year’s end. So my advice is to go shopping during the week after Christmas, if at all possible. This is when I buy wrapping paper and ribbons and bows. Some of it is definitely holiday-themed, but a lot of it can be used throughout the year. I also buy holiday themed fabric at this time, when it’s on sale, because I make up gift bags, very simple drawstring bags which can be re-used for years, and which make wrapping so much easier, especially for odd-shaped items.
Nit-pick. Black Friday is pre-Christmas. Here in Canada, Thanksgiving is 45 days earlier than in the US, so there is no such sales and the best sales are the day following Christmas (“Boxing Day”). Usually, they continue until New Year’s.
Dude, the sales are the reason so many people go shopping on Black Friday. (And just to clarify, you’re talking about the Friday after Thanksgiving, right? Because that’s what BF is. If you’re talking about some other day, you’re asking a totally different question.)
Some BF sales are just the same sales that you can find every few weeks anyway, or the same price something will be the entire holiday shopping season. Other BF sales are better than typical, but nothing really outrageous. But there will always be at least a handful of things that are totally insane deals. Same thing on Cyber Monday (the Monday after BF).
As far as after Christmas sales, it’s like other people have said–the best deals are on seasonal stuff that’s generally been pretty heavily picked over.