One Week After Black Friday, More Black Friday

  • Share
  • Read Later

It’s the shopping event that never seems to end, and that you just can’t get away from—even though it’s already over. It’s Black Friday, the day that celebrates unadulterated consumerism, fittingly with a name straight from a slasher horror film. This weekend at the stores, you can expect plenty of Black Friday-type door busters and deep discounts, with prices (and perhaps some credit scores) slashed left and right. You’re also pretty likely to encounter the phrase “Black Friday,” even though the day renowned for big sales and bizarre consumer behavior passed by a week ago.

Some examples:

Banana Republic is hosting a Black Friday-style event called “This Is Not a Black Friday Event” on Friday, December 3, with complimentary refreshments and “other surprises” at stores around the country, along with discounts of 25% off all purchases (30% if you have a Banana Republic credit card, which they actually call a BananaCard).

Kmart has a “Better Than Black Friday Sale” in effect today through Sunday, with markdowns that are aggressive but not necessarily better than Black Friday on electronics, toys, clothes, video games, appliances, and more.

Kohl’s, likewise, is in the middle of an “Incredible 3-Day Christmas Sale” that includes limited-hour Black Friday-style specials for Nightowls (from 3 p.m. to midnight on Friday, Dec. 3) and for Earlybirds (starting at 6 a.m. on Sat., Dec. 4).

J.C. Penney doesn’t use the term Black Friday in its ad this week, but it is offering deals similar to last week’s big event, including an extra 15% or 20% off of clearance items, and door busters starting at 7 a.m. on Saturday—with specials such as 60% off clothing or 70% off jewelry, plus up to an extra 20% off.

Toys R Us says that it is hosting a “2 Day Sale! Our Lowest Prices Ever!” today and tomorrow (December 3-4), with door busters and deals like 40% off bikes, free mystery gifts with every Megabloks purchase, and a buy-two-get-one-free special on all Playmobil products. This Friday-Saturday sale is sure to have the best prices offered by Toys R Us at least until the new round of sales appears in circulars on Sunday.

Sears, which has been promoting Black Friday-type deals every weekend for more than a month, again offers two days of door busters such as a 200-piece mechanics tool set for $99.99, a 50% discount off the regular price. For online shoppers, the coupon code SANTA allows for free shipping on most orders.

Add this to the list of things we learned from Black Friday: Retailers really like to throw around the phrase Black Friday. Apparently the term, and phrases associated with the event such as “door busters,” is like catnip for shoppers. And as you may not know, cats (and shoppers) can do some pretty loopy, nonsensical things when they’re all juiced up.

Related:
Black Friday by the Numbers