Black Friday shoppers get out early for deals in Winnipeg

They came, they grabbed, they hauled away.

Early-rising shoppers lined up on a relatively mild morning in Winnipeg (–1 C) to take advantage of the Black Friday deals.

"Usually I get up every morning at quarter to five to go to work. So I set my alarm for the same time and it was like the minute the alarm went off I'm like, 'Woo Hoo! It's shopping day,'" said Marabeth Leblanc.

She hit up The Bay first thing and then was set to target some of the 30-40 per cent off deals around Polo Park mall.

"I've got a list of Christmas present shopping that I want to do and, hopefully, finish up all my shopping today," Leblanc said.

"After we're finished here, then we go over to another mall and just keep going around until we're, like, dead."

Bernadette Gutierrez, who insisted she did not take the day off work to shop, was with several friends who did. The women said they didn't have a particular strategy for the day, other than where to begin.

"We'll start with The Bay, because they're offering a $20 gift card if you spend $100, and we'll go from there," Gutierrez said.

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Afsara Tasnim, who arrived in Canada from Bangladesh just three months ago, was spending her first-ever Black Friday at Polo Park as well.

And she was pretty happy about it.

"I got totals of about 40 per cent discount from every store. This is amazing," she said.

Polo Park general manager Peter Havens said the popularity of Black Friday has increased year over year.

"It's really quickly become a tradition in Canada and people have really embraced it. And certainly, the retailers and our tenants have been offering great specials," he said.

Across St. James Street at Best Buy, vehicles queued up outside the door, hazard lights flashing in the dark as a steady stream of people hauled out big screen TVs and other electronics.

Jedrick Urabanga and his friend Jerique Balagtas arrived at 5:45 a.m. and still wound up way back in line, in front of neighbouring store Old Navy.

Urabanga had his hopes set on a PS4 and admitted there was a bit of panic when he finally got inside.

"I was legit crossing my fingers, please, please have one," he said. "I was rushing, legit rushing, and panicking. I was asking other people who bought one 'Where'd you get it?'

"And I got one and I'm happy, that's all I'm saying."

Balagtas said he came to give Urabanga company but is saving his money for what he think are better deals on Boxing Day.

He said going early wasn't entirely necessary.

"It really doesn't matter. There's lot of stuff and even if you are a little bit late, you'll probably still get what you want," he said.

However, another Best Buy shopper, Justin Certeza, said the head start is important.

"Because I know for a fact if I come in like half an hour or an hour [after the store opens] everything's probably gone. Well, all the good stuff, most likely," he said.

Postal strike concerns

A few people who spoke to CBC on Friday mentioned concern about not being able to send parcels out to friends and loved ones in other parts of the country.

Ongoing rotating strikes by Canada Post employees have caused parcel backups at sorting stations while deliveries from other countries have been suspended, Labour Minister Patty Hajdu said Thursday.

She tabled a bill in the House of Commons the same day for emergency legislation to force the union members back to work. MPs will continue to debate the motion on Friday.

"I was telling my daughter-in-law, who lives in St. Thomas, Ont., I sure hope that we're able to get our parcels away to you. Hopefully it will all get settled, good for both sides," said Leblanc.

With files from Meaghan Ketcheson and Warren Kay

Winnipeggers take advantage of early Black Friday sales

6 years ago

Duration 1:56

Shoppers lined up on a relatively mild morning in Winnipeg (–1 C) to take advantage of the Black Friday deals.