GTA retailers offer extended mall hours for Black Friday

Ontario retailers will offer extended mall hours on Black Friday – traditionally the Friday after U.S. Thanksgiving – to compete with retailers south of the border.

“Retailers are girding against the loss of sales to U.S. counterparts by offering comparable deals,” Kelly Askew, managing director of retail management at consulting firm Accenture told CityNews on Friday.

Even five years ago, he said, Black Friday was a relatively rare occurrence in Canada.

Thanks to the availability of online shopping –and online advertising – the game has changed and the awareness of Black Friday has increased, Kelly said.

Because of this, Canadian retailers are striving to keep up and companies like Hudson’s Bay Co. and Holt Renfrew are increasingly devoting more of their fourth quarter push towards Black Friday.

This year, Black Friday falls on Nov. 29 and Canadian shoppers are already preparing for bargains.

In a recent survey by Accenture, 60 per cent of Canadians said they planned to shop at U.S. retailers, online or in-store, on Black Friday and throughout the holiday season.

They also believe that the better Black Friday deals are in the U.S. Nearly half – or 42 per cent of  Canadians said the best bargains were south of the border, while only 23 per cent said the best deals were in Canada.  And more than a quarter – 27 per cent – said they liked the so-called “door buster” deals on offers down south.

But Canadians won’t be finished shopping after Black Friday.

“Canadians still expect the best deals on Boxing Day,” Kelly said, adding we still like to shop in a physical store.

“The in-person purchase matters to Canadians,” he said.

Accenture conducted an online survey of over 1,200 Canadians evenly distributed across Toronto, Calgary and Montreal in late September. The survey is considered accurate 95 times out of 100, plus or minus three per cent.

GTA Black Friday mall hours:
Bramalea City Centre (Brampton): 7 a.m. – 11 p.m.

Eaton Centre (Toronto):  6 a.m. – 9:30 p.m.

Fairview Park (Kitchener): 7 a.m. – 9 p.m.

Dufferin Mall (Toronto): 8 a.m. – 10 p.m.

Fairview Mall (North York): 7 a.m. – 9 p.m.

Lime Ridge mall (Hamilton): 7 a.m. – 9 p.m.

Markville (Markham): 7 a.m. – 9 p.m.

Masonville Place (London): 7 a.m. – 9 p.m.

Promenade (Thornhill): 7 a.m. – 9p.m.

Scarborough Town Centre: 8 a.m. – 9 p.m.

Sherway Gardens (Toronto): 7 a.m. – 9:30 p.m.

Square One (Mississauga): 7 a.m. – 9 p.m.

Shops at Don Mills (Toronto):  7 a.m. – 9 p.m.

Tanger Outlets (Cookstown): 9 a.m. – 9 p.m.

Vaughan Mills (Vaughan): 7 a.m. – 9 p.m.

Yorkdale (Toronto): Extended hours at Yorkdale began on Nov. 14. The mall is open on Nov. 29 from 7 a.m. – 9:30 p.m.

Are you taking advantage of the bargains? Let us know in the comments below.

Note: This is a corrected article. An earlier version said Yorkdale opened at 9:30 a.m. on Black Friday.