Soggy weather not stopping locals from getting in on Black Friday deals

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – The weather may be chilly and wet, but people are trying to find hot Black Friday deals across the Lower Mainland.

A couple dozen people lined up at the Best Buy near the Cambie Street Bridge for the early store opening.

It was a very “Canadian” Black Friday, with people filing in quietly and in an orderly way. Most didn’t start showing up until the final minutes before the doors opened. But several came with a plan.

“You kind of have to, if you don’t want to waste your time. 6 a.m. is kind of early,” said one man.

The earliest arrival there was at about 4 a.m. A second deal-seeker joined him before 5 a.m., an hour before doors opened. A few others queued up shortly after.

It’s a far cry from the big line-ups we’ve seen elsewhere across North America, but the store is expecting crowds today. With music pumping inside, workers were putting the finishing touches on the door-crasher deals.

By far, the most popular leaving the store this morning are smart and 4K TVs. Harj was among the dozens of people carrying one out.

“It’s a new technology … It’s a decent TV for a cheap price. I’m not going to argue with that.”

The company is expecting people to go for smart home products — things like smart speakers, thermostats, and security systems — but you can always expect hot items like video games, laptops, and wearable items like smart watches to be high on some people’s lists today.

Over at the McArthur Glen outlet near YVR Airport, deal-hunters lined up as early as 5 a.m.

Signs outside stores advertised up to 70 per cent off. According to the outlet, sales have increased by 10 per cent year after year on Black Friday.

Many of the shoppers there said they weren’t looking to check off any items from their gift lists. Rather, they were more likely to be shopping for themselves.

Who’s getting in on the deals?

Polly Tracey with Best Buy Canada says a national survey has found more than half of Canadians plan to shop on Black Friday. “I think it’s no real surprise that millennials are the biggest proportion of that group. Over three quarters plan to shop this Black Friday.”

She points out millennials have grown up with the Black Friday phenomenon. “It’s a relatively new occurrence in retail in Canada.”

Tracey says baby boomers are the least likely to take part in the deals. “Some baby boomers said they weren’t even looking for sales altogether. So, that could be a mindset thing — they prefer to shop with a bit more time and less people in the stores.”

And seems many Canadians are no stranger to picking up deals while wearing “indoor clothes”, or at the wee hours of the morning. The survey found almost half of us (48%) have shopped online in their pajamas, a third (32%) have shopped online after midnight, and over a fifth (22%) have shopped online from work.

A smaller percentage (14%) have made purchases online after having a drink or two.

 – With files from John Ackermann and Greg Harper

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