Grey Cup could help boost Black Friday sales in Winnipeg
Grey Cup is Sunday but many football fans are in city all week, looking for things to do
Grey Cup fans, combined with a low Canadian dollar deterring shoppers from crossing the border into the U.S., could mean more cash rolling into Winnipeg malls for Black Friday.
Deborah Green, the general manager at Polo Park mall, said she's already seeing an increase in the number of people, including tourists, at the mall.
The Grey Cup game isn't until Sunday evening but football fans have been arriving in the city all week and are looking for things to do. The malls are hoping to tap into that, especially with Friday's big bargains.
Black Friday has become the second busiest day of the year for Polo Park after Boxing Day, Green said, and the influx of visitors could carry those kind of numbers through the weekend.
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"There's just lots going on. I think there's a whole buzz in the city, which is nice to see," Green said. "The weather's going to be great, you know the [Grey Cup and Santa] parades, shopping — it's like the perfect weekend for everyone."
Grant Park Shopping Centre is trying to get the jump on that buzz by once again holding its big sales on Thursday instead. The event, Black and White Thursday Night, is billed as "a more civilized" alternative to the Friday frenzy.
There will be free refreshments and free cake as well as prizes and musical entertainment.
"We have a lot of local, independent retailers, a lot of services, and we decided we wanted to do something completely different and strike out on our own. So it's more of a great shopping experience as opposed to, you know, to a crazy find-all-the-sales shopping trip."
This will be the mall's third year for Black and White Thursday Night but this one should benefit from the Grey Cup, Quintaine said.
"I definitely think we'll see an uptick in retail sales," he said.
"Winnipeg is going to be a busy, busy place this weekend. It will be awfully exciting to be shopping, to be going to a game, to be doing anything this weekend in Winnipeg — it's going to be a lot of fun."