Canadian Black Friday

From Yahoo Canada:

"Canadian 'Black Friday' fights to keep shoppers from border crossing"

Forced to compete with the lure of even more duty-free exemptions this shopping season, more Canadian retailers are expected to jump on the U.S.-style Black Friday bandwagon in an effort to keep price-conscious shoppers from crossing the border. While still not reaching the frenzied heights seen in the U.S., the Canadianized version of Black Friday —the annual U.S. Thanksgiving merchandise sales event — has steadily caught on in Canada over the past few years and is expected to have its biggest year yet. A number of the big retail chains ramped up their promotions weeks ahead of the annual event, boasting an array of four-day special sales to coincide with the U.S. long weekend. Most of the big chains, including Best Buy Canada and Future Shop, The Brick, Sears Canada, the Gap Inc. (which includes its stable of clothing stores the Gap, Banana Republic and Old Navy) will be incorporating the Black Friday theme to entice shoppers this weekend. In Ontario, Cadillac Fairview announced that nine of its malls will be extending their hours this Black Friday. Toronto's Eaton Centre mall, for example, will be opening at 6 a.m. "We think it's the voice of the consumer saying 'in Canada, we should see amazing Canadian deals,' if not there will be a lot of leakage to U.S. shopping." That cross-border shopping leakage is an obvious concern to Canadian retailers, who face increased cross-border challenges now that new duty-free exemptions came into effect earlier this year. Canadian shoppers who stay overnight in the U.S. are now allowed to bring back up to $200 worth of merchandise duty-free, rather than just the $50 worth before the new rules were put in place. For people who travel between two and seven days, the limit has doubled to $800 from $400, while the limit for visits of more than a week increases to $800 from $750. Meanwhile, according to a survey conducted by Ipsos Reid for Visa Canada, nearly 44 per cent of Canadian online shto shopoppers say they are likely to take advantage of discounts offered on Black Friday and Cyber Monday (by shopping at American online merchants — a 10 per cent increase over last year. Vincent Power, a spokesman for Sears Canada, said cross-border shopping began ramping up back in 2007, when the Canadian dollar reached parity with its U.S. counterpart. Canada has also seen an influx of new American retailers over the last two to three years. Many American companies, facing a saturated retail market at home, headed north where the competition isn't as pronounced, Kruh observed. As well, Canada is considered a great springboard for international expansion by U.S. firms as they can start here and then figure out their business template and other issues like supply chains and packaging. These new American companies also bring with them the same promotional strategies from the U.S., which include Black Friday.

^ I don't know why it has taken Canada so long to realize that Canadian shoppers are going to the US to shop as they have been for decades if not centuries. Here in NH there is no sales tax so we not only get lots of people from neighboring states like Maine, Massachusetts and Vermont, but also from Canada. I have noticed lots of Canadian shoppers - usually coming by bus - on Memorial Day, Labor Day and Black Friday. Even though I'm Canadian I live in the US and am also an American and don't think much about it, but if I was a Canadian living in Canada I would be upset that I couldn't get the same kind of bargains and discounts in my own country (even if it was in another province.) Of course whether I am a Canadian in Canada, a Canadian in the US or an American in the US I would try my hardest to not go shopping on the high-paced days I already mentioned - especially not on Black Friday.  ^

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/canadian-black-friday-keep-shoppers-crossing-border-092824100.html