Best Friday-After-Thanksgiving Sales in St. Louis, MO

Black Friday is the Friday after Thanksgiving in the United States. It got its name by virtue of being the day that most retail stores started getting out of the red (debit) and into the black (profit) because the four weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas are the most profitable time of the year for them.

If you decide to venture out to hit the sales on Black Friday, prepare yourself. Get plenty of rest and wear layered clothing so you can divest yourself of outer layers as the day goes on. Some retailers will run enormous loss leaders (an item they deliberately sell at a large loss to lure people to the stores). Typically there will be a limit on the loss leaders, sometimes as few as ten per store. Try to find a merchant who gives out numbers to the first people in the store. That will ensure that the people who waited longest get the merchandise they wanted. People will start lining up overnight to get a really good deal, especially a high-ticket item like a computer or television. If you have a family member who hates shopping but doesn't mind waiting in line, have that person do the waiting and you show up when the store opens to take the ticket from them and purchase the item.

To find out what deals will be offered, most chain stores such as Target, WalMart, JC Penney and Kmart send out weekly email bulletins on their sale items. Another good idea is to pick up your local newspaper on Thanksgiving Day. This edition will be twice its regular size, as it will be packed with store advertising. Set aside some time during the Thanksgiving day or evening to plot out a trip strategy. With soaring gasoline prices, it's in your best interest to route out your shopping trip to avoid backtracking. Take special note of store hours. Many stores will open as early as 5:00 a.m. for the dedicated shopper. Here in St. Louis, we have large malls distributed equally to the north, south, east and west. You will find that there will be major chain stores such as Target, WalMart, Office Max and/or Office Depot, Sears, JC Penney, Linens N Things, etc. very near every large mall.

Some of the better deals I found offered this year are:

All Sears stores…Free $10.00 gift card to the first 200 customers.
All Sears stores…Kenmore 1.0 cubic foot microwave oven $39.99
All Sears stores…KitchenAid Artisan 5 quart stand mixer $279.99
All Sears stores…Razor E325S electric scooter from 5 a.m. - 11 a.m. $99.99 after 11 a.m. $119.99. Regular price $219.99.

Sears has eleven stores in the St. Louis area and they will all open at 5:00 a.m. Friday, November 24, 2006.

Here's a service Sears and JC Penney offers that a lot of people don't know about. You can place an order online and arrange to pick the items up at your local store. No long waits in the checkout lanes or fighting to get what you need in the store.

All Office Max stores…Kodak C433 4MP Digital camera with 3X zoom $79.99
All Office Max stores…Sandisk 1GB Memory Stick Pro Duo $19.99

Office Max has thirteen stores in the St. Louis area and they will all open at 5:00 a.m. on Friday, November 24, 2006.

Ace Hardware stores have some nice sales such as a Delta 6" Bench Grinder for $19.99 after $15.00 mail-in rebate, a 30 pack of Rayovac AA or AAA batteries for $4.99 after $5.00 mail-in rebate and a three-pack of Shimmering Driveway Markers free after a $4.99 mail-in rebate.

There are eight Ace Hardware stores in the St. Louis area and they will open early on Friday, November 24, 2006, although they have not yet set a time.