In recent years, Black Friday and Cyber Monday have become less about the actual days, as deals are now spread out over weeks, or even a month-long period. For retailers it's their opportunity to clear out overstock and get them 'into the black' before the holiday shopping season. Zacharie Cadieux is taking advantage of the savings at Best Buy on Coventry Road in Ottawa.
"I'm here for Black Friday, yes, absolutely. I just got a TV; 65 inches," says Cadieux. "I did shop around online.
I checked all the prices, and it was the best deal over here for this specific TV. I had a Samsung for 12 years, 50 inches, and I wanted bigger, so I went with Samsung 65." Diana Cheezo was also shopping for Black Friday deals with her family but doesn't think she will save much.
"There's no difference anymore," says Cheezo, "that's why you don't see many people out to shop for Black Friday." Rabbie Rahman feels Black Friday has better deals for Canadians compared to Boxing Day but doesn't feel the deals are what they used to be. "I feel like it's a lot of artificial price gouging," says Rahman, "like raising the prices or just making up higher prices and then saying it's like 40 to 50 per cent off.
" While the hype around Black Friday isn't like it was in previous years, Marc Saltzman, technology columnist and host of Tech Talk on 580 CFRA, says shoppers can still score deals in the days and weeks leading up to Black Friday. "Retailers, especially this year, don't want to see any customer look el.