Pre-Black Friday sales: Early deals include fitness trackers, HDTVs, Star Wars

Last year, J.C. Penney attempted to one-up the competition by opening at 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving, while competitors like Macy’s, Target, Kohl’s, and Sears kicked off their Black Friday sales an hour later at 6 p.m. – the same time they plan to open this year. Stores will feature over 100 different deals and will stay open an hour later than usual on Wednesday, November 25.

“For this Black Friday, stores are trying to return the excitement to the actual day and make it special again because it got so lost”, said retail expert Kathy Welch, the executive vice president of Forest City Ratner who oversees the company’s shopping centers, including Atlantic Terminal Mall in Brooklyn and Ridge Hill Mall in Yonkers.

Big online discounts are the key reason retailers have felt forced to open their doors on Thanksgiving and offer deals even earlier, said Marshal Cohen, an analyst with the NPD Group.

“There are always deals online before and after (Black Friday), so I get what I need that way”, she said.

At what point has Black Friday taken over Thanksgiving? Google said that Sunday is the most popular day of the week for mobile shopping-18% higher than other days-and the 24/7 nature of the Web allows shoppers to buy when they want.

Black Friday: 6 a.m. – 9 p.m.

The CTA expects video game consoles and TVs to be the most purchased tech gifts this year.

Online sales are also likely a factor. Once the wristbands are gone, so are the products. Amazon launched Black Friday Deals Store just last Monday with merely a few weeks to go for Thanksgiving and over a month for Christmas.

Say what you will about the origin of Thanksgiving, every year sentiments about self-entitled pilgrims seem to grow and distaste for the holiday abounds.

Check out Amazon’s website for more details. The store will be passing out tickets for its doorbusters. That means that customers in designated areas of the store between 6:00 PM and 7:00 PM on Thanksgiving Day are guaranteed to receive the item at the sales price. For example, Cyber Monday is really a lousy day to shop for most anything online, with the exception of toys. The store usually requires a minimum purchase of $35 for free shipping. So Amazon does have something to prove this year with their Black Friday sales. The store is offering “10 Days of Deals” starting November 22 and ending on December 1 on electronics, appliances and toys. Is Walmart open or closed on Thanksgiving Day? Furniture and jewelry will only provide an 8 percent and 4 percent additional discount on Black Friday, the survey found.

We had gone through upcoming Amazon deals on TVs, which brings huge discount on the holiday season.

Taking the Thanksgiving away for Christmas: Freedom Vickers, 39, of York, said this year she’s ditching the lines in order to do shopping online for “Cyber Monday”.