I consider myself the modern equivalent of a crazy coupon lady. Unlike my wiser contemporaries, I sign up for every retail mailing list that so much as drifts across my Google search results. The result is no less than twenty spam emails a day and an inbox with 25,853 unread messages (and counting). It is a dubious honor and, frankly, a strain on my already-overloaded iCloud account. Nonetheless, my obsessive sale-tracking has helped me catch incredible deals time and time again. It has also given me a clearer understanding of how retail pricing fluctuates. For most fast fashion retailers- think Urban Outfitters, PacSun, H&M – sale season never ends. These stores offer new discount specials almost every week, and products are bumped to clearance nearly as quickly as they are stocked. As a result, that full-price jacket you bought from H&M during its “40% off the entire store!” Black Friday promotions will certainly sell for cheaper – if not within a couple of weeks, then by the end of the holiday season.
Here’s the thing, though. Retailers want you to believe that you are scoring big on Black Friday, because that delusion draws larger crowds back each year. Consequently, the fall season tends to contain fewer sales and generally features higher prices than summer. If this trend has dissuaded you from shopping since back-to-school season ended, Black Friday may just seem like the beacon of hope for your outerwear-starved wardrobe. However, you would probably be better off shopping around the date than on it. The beginning of November is packed with sales. After all, retailers need to clear out the remains of their summer and fall collections before they start to stack their shelves with full-price, soon-to-be-doorbuster winter wear. A number of higher-end stores, like For Love and Lemons, Net-a-Porter and Nordstrom, will actually offer their best deals (and the most stock) in the weeks before Black Friday.
Despite my disillusionment with doorbuster deals, I am hardly immune to the temptation of a flashy sale. The second- and potentially more important- reason that I avoid Black Friday is the traffic. When it takes one hour to park, another hour to score a fitting room, another hour to check out and one more hour to exit the parking garage, shopping becomes burdensome and stressful. Even shopping online can be frustrating, because the deals are watered down, stock runs out rapidly and shipping can take so long that the item will drop in price before it reaches you.
Black Friday, despite its reputation, fails to offer prices that justify the hassle it imposes. This year, it might be worth your while to just take the event off – sleep in, spend some time with your family or treat yourself to an adventure with friends. Spend the day, not your money.