In a stunning press release, Sears Holdings announced unprecedented, and sometimes perplexing, Thanksgiving and Black Friday hours for Sears and Kmart. The changes mark a shift in strategy for both stores, and the stark difference from year to year is a large part of why we were so skeptical of the lists of Black Friday hours that were circulated earlier in the season. Here’s how the news breaks down.
Sears Black Friday Hours
Last year, Sears opened at 4am, opting out of the midnight doorbuster competition altogether by positioning itself as a second stop on the Black Friday shopping agenda. For Black Friday 2012, Sears is going in a completely different direction. In a stunning turn of events, Sears will open at 8pm on Thanksgiving Day and stay open for 26 hours straight through until 10pm on Black Friday. This is by far the earliest we’ve ever seen a retailer open its doors for Black Friday. Sears is planning two rounds of doorbusters – one for the early birds beginning at 8pm on Thanksgiving, and a second round beginning at 4am. We’re looking forward to seeing how this double doorbuster strategy plays out in the Sears Black Friday ad.
Kmart Black Friday Hours
Kmart’s Thanksgiving and Black Friday hours are a jumbled, confusing mess. On Thanksgiving Day, Kmart will be open from 6am to 4pm. They’ll reopen four hours later at 8pm and stay open until 3am on Black Friday, shutting the doors once again. Then they’ll reopen two hours later at 5am for Black Friday, staying open this time until 11pm. Are you confused yet? Presumably, the first break would be to let Kmart employees have Thanksgiving dinner with their families, but why close at 3am only to reopen two hours later? And why lose two hours of shopping time to the competition in the middle of the busiest shopping day of the entire year?
Just a few years ago, layaway programs were not in favor with most retailers.
BradsDeals lists 8 stores offering Layaway Programs this holiday season.
The payment program had fallen out of favor with the vast majority of shoppers, and only a few retailers thought layaway was worth the time and hassle to keep it alive.
However last year, layaway programs made a strong comeback among many retailers, especially Sears and K-mart, when they declared their National Layaway Week to help kick off the 2011 holiday shopping season. This year layaway programs are in high demand with stores, some programs even started early as September this year. Layaway competition is fierce this year, as major retailers like Toys R Us and Walmart have been heavily advertising their layaway programs leading up to the 2012 holiday season.
Earlier in September, Toys R Us announced that they would waive fees making its layaway service free for shoppers until October 31, but now the retailer has now decided to extend their layaway plan to December 16th due to seeing its popularity with customers. Walmart and K-mart both ante up their layaway programs as well. K-mart waived fees for shoppers and Walmart reduced their upfront fee from $15 to $5. Since the American economy is still putting a serious burden on American family incomes, retailers are hoping to make the holiday months easier, offering you several layaway options this year. Like last year, we’ve listed several stores and their layaway plans to aid you in purchasing your holiday items over time. Most of the stores are similar to last year, but some stores have changed their fees from last year due to the high popularity of layaway this year.
As Black Friday ads have rolled out this year, we’ve noticed many retailers starting their Black Friday sales on Thanksgiving Day online.
Many Black Friday sales are starting online on Thanksgiving Day.
Here are some of the online Black Friday sales you can take advantage of today, while the turkey is still in the oven. Happy Thanksgiving, and happy shopping!
We’ve posted over 60 Black Friday Ads so far this year! Can you believe it? With all of these ads posted, we thought it would be helpful to put together what we think are the best of the best Black Friday 2011 deals. This list should help you know where you stand in line and what items to make a beeline for when the doors open!
Our top 20 Black Friday deals, with our favorites at the top, are as follows:
Vivitar Digital Video Camcorder for $14.99 at hhgregg
What would you pick as a top Black Friday Deal? Leave a comment below and let us know!
For even more up-to-the-minute 2011 Black Friday News subscribe to our daily newsletter and get the hottest news delivered to you every day! Also, be sure to check us out on Facebook and follow @blackfridayfans on Twitter.
There have been a lot of comments on the late night vs. early morning Black Friday sales. Target, Macy’s and Kohl’s are all opening at midnight this year. So after you finish Thanksgiving dinner, you can go shop to your heart’s content! JCPenney and Sears will be keeping the traditional early-morning store hours; opening at 4AM. This has created quite a stir in the comments sections of our Black Friday news page as well as on our Facebook page.
We want to know what YOU think about this Black Friday controversy. Check out what some of your fellow Black Friday Fans are saying and tell us what you think by voting for your favorite quote in the poll below, then leave us a comment to share your thoughts!
Do you want Black Friday news and updates as they happen?
Sears has released their 2011 Black Friday ad! The first 200 customers purchasing clothing, accessories and intimate apparel will receive a free collectible 2011 Thomas Kinkade ornament. Sears’ Black Friday doorbusters will run only from 4am to 1pm, so be sure to make this a morning destination in your Black Friday plan.
The 24 page ad features more than 500 doorbusters including:
KitchenAid Pro500 Series Mixer for $200
Norelco 6040 Electric Razor for $19.99
Farberware 22-Piece Cutlery Block Set for $19.99
American Trunk & Case Radience 360 Spinner Luggage for $29.99
We strongly suspect this is only a partial ad, however, since last year’s ad was 48 pages long and this one isn’t listing any electronics, one of the biggest components of any Black Friday ad. Stay tuned, and we’ll bring you the full ad whenever it becomes available. In the meantime, you can see the partial ad for yourself at our Sears Black Friday ad page.
Black Friday season is really heating up now, and holiday retailers know it’s simply not enough to have a killer Black Friday ad anymore. Here’s the latest round up of toy books and pre-Black Friday sales from three of Black Friday’s biggest names.
Walmart, Target and Sears are gearing up for Black Friday 2011 with early sales.
Walmart Toyland Gift Book
Walmart rolled out it’s annual Toyland Gift Book yesterday. Prices are good through Thanksgiving Day. Walmart will also be hosting an in-store Super Saturday event on 11/5 beginning at 11am featuring pre-Black Friday deals on items throughout the store. Some highlights include:
Sanyo 42″ Class LCD TV 1080p – $398
Better Homes and Gardens 10-Cup Programmable Grind & Brew Coffee Maker – $39
Playskool Sesame Street Let’s Rock! Elmo – $54.88
Nook Color – $199
As of this morning the link from Walmart’s front page appears to be malfunctioning, telling us that there is no ad for our store right now regardless of what zip code we use, but we expect Walmart will resolve the issue shortly.
Target Holiday Toy Sale
The Target Holiday Toy Sale advertisement features pricing good through November 23. Some highlights include:
Fijit Friends – $39.89
Let’s Rock! Elmo – $53.99
Hot Wheels Wall Tracks Set – $32.99
Black & Decker Jr. Kids’ Power Workshop – $39.99
Sears Family & Friends Night
Sears is hosting its annual Family and Friends Night on Sunday 11/13 from 6-9pm. This year’s advertisement is claiming “Better Than Black Friday Prices”. Savings include a variety of store-wide discounts ranging from 5% to 25% off. Some item highlights include:
LG 50″ class plasma 720p 600Hz HDTV – $569.99
Panasonic 5.1 channel 1000 watt 3D Blu-ray home theater system – $289.99
Canon T3 DSLR 12.0MP Camera with 18-55mm lens – $474.99
Walmart made the news earlier this month by announcing a special layaway option for it’s 2011 holiday shoppers. Then Sears and Kmart declared National Layaway Week to help kick off the holiday shopping season. All of this news about the return of layaway made a splash since the dismal state of the American economy is putting a serious strain on many families’ holiday shopping budgets. Layaway programs largely fell out of favor with retailers and shoppers alike in the last twenty years, with Walmart cancelling their own program in 2006. However, for the 2011 holiday shopping season, Walmart’s press release makes it clear that they want “to help families deliver a big Christmas this year” by reinstating the program. The discount chain also decided to slash prices on some toys beginning September 12th, the earliest they’ve ever done so in anticipation of the holiday season.
Pay for holiday gifts in installments with layaway programs at your favorite stores.
But Walmart isn’t the only major retailer out there offering layaway in 2011. Many of your favorite stores are hoping to make the holidays easier on your wallet this year with layaway programs of their own. It’s even possible to do layaway online. We’ve assembled a list of stores where you can pay for those big ticket items over time.
Please keep in mind that our opinion is that layaway is a bad consumer decision. You should just save the money yourself and make the same purchase, without a fee. You are literally loaning the retailer money and paying them a fee for the privilege!
Best Buy
Make a 25% down payment, plus a 5% nonrefundable layaway fee. Best Buy requires a minimum purchase of $250, but keep in mind that you can include several items to meet that total. Payments are made every two weeks until the balance is paid in full. Items that are ineligible for layaway include clearance, promotional, closeout and discontinued items. For complete details: Best Buy Layaway Policy
Big Lots
Although it’s not well-publicized and information about it can be hard to find, Big Lots offers “price holds” on select items at select locations. Price holds usually are limited to upholstery, but it’s definitely worth asking about if there’s a particular piece of furniture that you want to buy. To qualify for a Price Hold, customers must put 10% down and pay off the balance within 90 days. Terms may vary by location, so be sure to ask how price holds work at your store locally. (more…)
Sears Black Friday Hours
Kmart Black Friday Hours
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