Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Hardy souls brave the chill for Black Friday
DESPITE the freezing conditions — which reached -2C today — a few hardy souls braved the winter weather for this year’s Black Friday.
Instead of the usual queues seen outside shops in previous years, and far from the wild scenes of 2014, Dundonians came in dribs an drabs to catch a bargain at the annual shopping feast.
Police earlier this week issued a warning to shoppers that they would be arrested if their desire for bargains spiralled out of control.
But there was none of that to be seen and many shoppers spoke of buying goods online, saying they were “cosy” in their beds.
At Tesco on the Kingsway today, there were several keen bargain hunters who had queued up as early as 4.50am.
One of the first was student Hayley Johnston, 18, who arrived at 5am.
Hayley said: “I was the second person to go into the shop.
“There was hardly anybody here and there was definitely no rush of people trying to get inside.”
Factory workers and housemates Marcin Butowski, 24, and David Miotk, 54, got out of bed at 4.30am — after finishing their nightshift at 10pm.
Marcin explained: “We saved £140 on a TV, but we thought we would have saved even more than that.
“We got a bit of a bargain but I don’t think it was worth getting up so early for.
“There was certainly no issues with getting bargains before anyone else because there’s hardly anyone here.”
Forfar couple Tony else and Valentina Polanska arrived at the store at 4.50am and saved £50 on a fryer. “It’s the first time we’ve gone shopping early on Black Friday and we certainly won’t be bothering again,” said the couple. The scene was similar at the Overgate, with only a smattering of shoppers lurking about at 8am. Many shops across the country opened earlier than normal today and most will also stay open beyond normal closing time. However, bargains have been available for several days.