With Black Friday right around the corner, it may be time to start planning your early escape from Thanksgiving dinner with the family. This year stores are opening earlier than ever with deals that are almost sweeter than Grandma’s pumpkin pie. Anxiety over which stores to shop at or stay home and shop online is slowly setting in as the days tick down to the big event. Let me be your Black Friday guru for this shopping extravaganza and guide you toward some amazing deals that will take place this Black Friday. My advice will help you keep your cool through all of the madness!
Old Navy will be opening alarmingly early at 4 p.m. on Thursday, Thanksgiving Day with the entire store 50 percent off until midnight November 28th.
Macy’s will also be joining Old Navy in the early openings, pulling shoppers away from Thanksgiving dinner with the family, opening at 6 p.m. Thursday. This year Macy’s will have an array of impressive deals as usual on coats, sweaters, beauty, and handbags. With door busters that cannot be beaten like Rampage boots for $19.99, a personal favorite that gets me to the store every year. If discounts on shoes are not your thing, don’t fret, Macy’s will also be offering a seven-piece perfume door buster set with a fragrance purchase of $95 or more; some brands included in the set are Versace and Juicy Couture. In beauty, Macy’s is also bringing to the plate $10 door buster deals with a Smashbox mini kit alongside Urban Decay’s Eye Arsenal that will have you forgetting all about the turkey on the table at home.
Ulta, the beauty super store, will be starting their deals at 7pm online Thursday and in stores at 8pm, offering $10 Bare Minerals kits, 50% off Bed Head curling irons and wands, and the much anticipated Ulta Irresistible Beauty 72 piece collection for $14.99. Sephora, a close competitor to Ulta, is being very tech savvy this Black Friday to get deals out to customers. To get a sneak peak about what items will be on sale, Sephora has created a Snapchat with the username SephoraSnaps. Sale items will be snapchatted to users who follow this account until November 25th, and on November 26th Sephora will be releasing all of their Black Friday deals on their Instagram account. Getting exclusive snapchats from Sephora every day on sale items for Black Friday has been driving me crazy with anticipation. No word is out yet how early the deals will be starting at Sephora for this Black Friday. One can only imagine they will be starting Thursday evening before midnight, with the current trend of early store openings.
H&M is mixing things up this year with crazy deals online and in stores. They will be gracing us with killer cyber Monday alongside Black Friday deals, featuring different select items online and in-store at 70 percent off every day until November 29th. As an incentive to get shoppers to their stores Black Friday, they will offer a bonus scratch off card featuring extra discounts that will be given to the first 100 shoppers. Starting November 30th and going until December 1st online, H&M will be offering 30 percent off your entire purchase and free shipping on all orders over $50.
Express is following suit in starting different deals every day until the big Black Friday event. To date, they have not released their grand deals. Don’t panic just yet girl, getting ahead of the game on Express’s deals is as easy as 1, 2, and 3 by signing up for email or text alerts online! Bonus shopping day giveaways will also be featured on Express’ Instagram account @EXPRESSRUNWAY. Hundreds of prizes, including Starbucks gift cards, will be given away.
Much anticipated deals for stores such as Victoria’s Secret and American Eagle have yet to be released. Only in our dreams we can imagine what amazing goodies Victoria Secret will be filling their annual holiday tote with. Shoppers will be able to grab this beauty with a purchase of usually $75.00. In the meantime, be sure to follow these simple steps to help keep your cool during the biggest shopping event of the year.
1) Decide if you should be shopping in-store or online. Are your favorite stores even offering anything special that differentiates from the deals online?
2) Dress properly and comfy for in-store shopping! Crowded stores and rising temperatures go hand in hand. You don’t want to be stuck dragging around your winter coat. Wear easily removable layers that won’t get in your way while shopping.
3) Create a buddy system with your girlfriends for in-store shopping.
4) Make sure someone is picking up coffee so you’re A-game is on when searching for incredible finds in-store.
5) Have a strategy for when stores are opening to ensure you’re getting there at primetime for deals.
6) Keep calm and BE SAFE among the madness around you. Remember, not getting the super cute heels on sale over the girl who beat you to them is a bummer, but it’s not the end of the world, girl!
7) Good luck! And may the shopping odds be ever in your favor.