Black Friday: Some shops to open as early as 6am Consider the environmental effects this Black Friday
Today, Black Friday, some shops will be opening as early as 6am, GRTU CEO Abigail Mamo said.
“Black Friday is a phenomenon happening across all of Malta. In preparation, many retail outlets have already advised that they will be extending their opening hours, with some starting from six and others closing after midnight.
“Our members inform us that this year Black Friday will bring a shopping feast for consumers with the exceptional discounts available.”
This day also offers challenges particularly regarding transport. For this reason, GRTU, accompanied by representatives’ of popular retail centers, met with Transport Malta and the Police Traffic Division specifically to discuss measures to ease traffic flow during Black Friday.
GRTU positively notes that both Transport Malta and the Police will be deploying all possible resources to identified problem areas and bottlenecks.
GRTU has also communicated and appealed with local councils to limit inconveniences on the day to only that which is urgent.
Towards this aim:
1. Road Traffic Police and Transport Malta official will be located at different bottlenecks.
2. GRTU wrote to all local councils to refuse and permits not considered as urgent and that could cause inconvenience in the roads.
3. Private carparks will be taking measures to increase efficiency.
4. The private sector is being encouraged to limit deliveries during this day.
5. The general public is being encouraged to make use of alternative transport, including public transport and ferry service available to the Valletta, Sliema and Cottonera areas.
6. In Valletta, apart from MCP car park there will also be a large allocated parking at the Water Front, from where the public can use the lift that takes them up to the Barrakka.
“This Friday GRTU will be closely monitoring the going of sales during the day and will be sending live updates from centers, retails shops and outlets. Members of the media interested to receive these updates are required to send an email to admin@grtu.eulisting their contact details including name, phone and contact number.”
Subsequently, GRTU will be publishing results of its usual study of how business has fared during Black Friday.
Mamo concluded that, “We believe that GRTU is an instrument that will help the continued improvement of the consumer-business relations. This year Maltese consumers have offers they cannot miss and these will be available across sectors and all over Malta. We expect many more businesses participating and offers that are greater than ever.” Today is Black Friday, and people are bound to start their early Christmas shopping. With this in mind, Environment Minister Jose Herrera urges everyone to consider the environment during this shopping period. “As we are now fast approaching the Christmas season and particularly the sales of Black Friday, it is important that we give due consideration to the environmental effects. Our actions during the upcoming days will make a difference on our environment. We need to, first and foremost, make the right choices and opt for products which are more environmentally conscious and sensitive including in terms of packaging, reliability and need.”
Black Friday is an informal name for the day following Thanksgiving Day in the United States, the fourth Thursday of November, which has been regarded as the beginning of the country’s Christmas shopping season since 1952.
Black Friday has also become synonymous with shopping sprees and slashed prices, as retailers try to sell as much as possible by offering discounts and deals to their customers. While originating in the USA, this has slowly crept its way into the European calendar.
Malta recently launched new waste collection regulations, in order to improve Malta’s performance in terms of recycling targets. The public is urged to keep this in mind when disposing of their packaging waste, by disposing of it in the proper manner.