Here’s your chance at great deals for holiday gift giving
Many Black Friday sales start today, which is U.S. Thanksgiving day, but some started last week
You don’t have to wait until Friday to snag some astounding Black Friday deals.
“Our massive discounts are already underway,” said Derek Shaw, manager at Andre’s Electronic Experts’ flagship store on Springfield Road.
“We didn’t feel like waiting until Nov. 24, so we started our Black Friday sales on Nov. 17 and it continues through today, tomorrow and the next week.”
The Black Friday door crasher Andre’s is most excited about is a high-definition, bigscreen LED (light-emitting diode) TV.
You may want to know that LED is a semiconductor device that generates visible light when an electric current passes through it. Or, you might just want to know that LED produces an incredibly bright, sharp and detailed TV picture.
At Andre’s Black Friday sale, the technology can be had a bargain.
For instance, there’s $1,000 off OLED TV models by electronics brand LG.
The ‘O’ in OLED in this case means organic and Shaw considers it the nicest picture because eight million tiny light bulbs are used to illuminate the screen.
The 55-inch LG OLED is on sale for $2,000 from the regular price of $3,000. The 65-inch is $3,000, down from $4,000. Samsung’s technology is called QLED, with the Q standing for quantum dot, an LED backlit technology that results in superior TV display.
Discounts and sale prices are similar for the Samsung QLED 55-and-65-inch models.
While TVs are Black Friday darlings, Andre’s hasn’t forgotten other electronics and appliances categories.
Sonos speakers are on sale and they usually never go on sale, said Shaw.
Smartphone deals worth lining up for include phones for free if you sign onto a carrier package and you get a scratch-and-save card that could be worth $200 off a future purchase.
Black Friday is a shopping tradition that started in the U.S. to kick off the Christmas shopping season after American Thanksgiving, which falls every year on the fourth Thursday of November.
But Black Friday sales have now spread around the world.
Being the U.S.’s next door neighbour, Canada was the natural first expansion point.
But, in the past decade, Black Friday has swept the globe with countries from Mexico, the U.K. and India to Norway, South Africa and New Zealand embracing it.
In many jurisdictions, including Kelowna, Black Friday has become a bigger shopping extravaganza than Boxing Day.
“And why wouldn’t it?” asked Shaw rhetorically.†
“Black Friday is before Christmas and you can do all your regular and gift shopping before Christmas rather than after it.”
Electronics is the biggest Black Friday category because the industry tends to do the deepest price slashing and people are continually buying electronics as technology upgrades.
However, virtually every other retail category has jumped on the bandwagon.
A list of stores and businesses in Kelowna with aggressive Black Friday sales runs the gamut from Hudson’s Bay, City Furniture,
Summit Tools and Kelowna Ford to His and Hers Fashions, Robertson Clothing, Summit Tools, Kelowna Motors for Mazda and JK Schmidt Jewelers.
“We don’t do Boxing Day, so we really love Black Friday,” said JK Schmidt manager Jennifer Schmidt.
“It’s a great way to get a jump start on your Christmas shopping and save money.”
The West Kelowna jewelry store is helping people save money by covering tax on purchases, and everything in the store is 15-20 per cent off.
Diamonds are the big deal this time of year as engagement rings fly off the shelves for Christmas and New Year’s proposals and diamond rings, necklaces, bracelets and earrings make lasting presents.
To mark Canada’s sesquicentennial, JK Schmidt is giving away 150 .10 carat keepsake diamonds worth $100 each to the first 150 shoppers who spend $150 or more after the one-week Black Friday sale kicks off today.
Cars aren’t a traditional Black Friday category, but Kelowna Motors for Mazda doesn’t want to be left out.
“Mazda has started to come on pretty strong Black Friday-wise in the past couple of years,” said Kelowna Motors general manager Rick Speckman.
“In addition to zero per cent financing and 90 days no payments on new models, we’ll also throw in Bose speakers or headphones.”
The deal applies to all nine of Mazda’s models including the bestselling CX3 compact SUV, CX5 sports car and Mazda 3, either the sedan or the hatchback.
Mazda’s Black Friday sale begins Friday and runs until Nov. 30.