Valley Retailers Already Rolling Out Black Friday Deals
By: Rachel Moore (Fox 5 News) November 2014
Most kids haven’t even finished eating their Halloween candy, but that hasn’t stopped major retailers from rolling out holiday deals.
Black Friday may be a thing of the past, as many of those deals can already be found.
Take a trip to nearly any of the Valley’s major chain stores and you’ll find everything from Christmas trees to stockings.
“It seems a little bit too early. You know, I’m not even in the mood for Christmas, so it doesn’t make me want to go out and start shopping,” Las Vegan Lorraine Morgan said.
Morgan may not have the holiday spirit yet, but others say the early rollout of holiday deals puts them at an advantage.
“I think it’s great. I think the better deals that come earlier – we can get all of our holiday shopping done. That’s great,” shopper Cindy Wager said.
Walmart has already slashed prices on more than 20,000 in-store items and this year is selling about a million more items online than last holiday season.
“Once the Halloween costumes are put away and November rolls around on the calendar, our customers start looking online at Walmart.com and start heading into our stores to start holiday prep and planning and to start gift shopping. This is really about having the right items available now,” Walmart spokesman John Forrest Ales said.
Online retailers are getting in on the action as well. Amazon already had Black Friday items listed the day after Halloween. The company is offering free two-way shipping to its members and anticipates making $90 billion in revenue this year.
“I like shopping, but I also spend a lot of time doing online shopping. I get some great deals and stuff that I can’t buy close [to] home,” shopper Howard Gordon said.
The United States Postal Service is expecting a 14 percent surge in holiday deliveries this year. Customers are urged to send packages early so they are delivered on time.
