While this year’s Black Friday wasn’t as successful as it was in 2019 for the La-Z-Boy store in Red Deer, general manager Brent Morrison says it was still a successful day.
“It was down a bit from last year but not by much – probably only about 10 per cent,” Morrison said the Saturday following Black Friday.
“It was actually really slow in the morning, which I heard happened all across Canada at the rest of our stores, but then late in the day, we were very busy.”
Since reopening, the store has been more successful than expected, Morrison added.
Collin Orthner, manager at McBain Camera in downtown Red Deer, says Black Friday itself wasn’t too busy, but the store had been selling items for discounted prices all November long.
“Friday was like a normal day – nothing too spectacular this year,” Orthner said.
“It’s definitely different than previous years, but we also targeted our advertising slightly differently, with Black Friday being a month-long event instead of a week or just a weekend. That way we could spread things out so there wouldn’t be the crowds in the store at once.”
Orthner said the month of November has been “good” for the store. McBain Camera is now gearing up for the Christmas season, he added.
“We’ve never been through (a pandemic) so we don’t really know what to expect. If the trend continues like it has in the fall, then (the season) will be a success,” he said.
Chris Sturdy, Trail Appliances general manager, says the store, located in the south end of the city, does a 10-day Black Friday sale.
“Right off the hop we were very busy. Of course with it being a 10-day sale, the urgency isn’t there where they need to make a purchase in one day. That way they have some time to decide, measure and make sure things are going to work for their lifestyle,” he said.
The store has always done a multi-day sale towards the end of November instead of a single-day sale, Sturdy added.
“Especially during these times we don’t want to load up the store with a bunch of people, so we don’t want to do it as a one-day thing,” he said.
“These big events, these 10-day or two-week sales, are going to be the way of the future for a while until this pandemic gets under control.”
sean.mcintosh@reddeeradvocate.com
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