Black Friday hits the day after Thanksgiving every year and with it comes tons of sales, deals, and specials galore. Whether you’re looking for an HDTV or a pair of jeans, sales abound and you can likely find a great deal on just about anything. The capture? Many of the best sales take place at dawn (or much earlier). More and more stores are opening on Thanksgiving night, too. For many, the holidays don’t really begin until after this big-selling day of the season begins.
As in many cities, Black Friday is the day to go shopping in Seattle! You can actually go to just about any mall or mall and you’ll find crowds and bargains galore, but knowing a little about area malls and how to track bargains can help you plan your day. Whether you want to get in and out (good luck!) Or spend a day in the shops, decide ahead of time and go armed with the knowledge of where you will go and what deals you are looking for.
Where to start
The key to a successful Black Friday is to review the deals before you go out. The queues are often so long and the door knocks limited enough that figuring out where you want to go often makes the difference between scoring that 1000-sheet half-price set or not. You can pick up a copy of the local newspaper, which will be completed with weekly ads and coupons, but there is no need to wait for the newspaper either. Black Friday ads start leaking weeks early. Keep an eye on Black Friday News to see which ads have been leaked, and watch Black Friday Ads to see the actual ads scanned or uploaded.
As you establish what deals you want to get, be sure to keep the store’s opening hours in mind. Many stores now open as early as Thanksgiving night.
Where to go
Seattle Area Malls – You’ll find Black Friday deals at many independent stores, especially in downtown Seattle, but if you want to get as many deals in the shortest amount of time, head to the mall. In Seattle and the surrounding cities, there are many malls, malls, independent stores, and shopping malls to head to for sales. Pacific Place and Westlake Center are great options downtown, but in surrounding Seattle cities, malls like Northgate Mall and Southcenter are large and have many stores within their boundaries.
Southcenter Mall in Tukwila is an especially good place since the mall is large, but there are also hundreds of more stores outside the mall in the surrounding blocks. But be prepared to get tangled up in the traffic in the parking lot!
Bellevue: Bellevue is an ideal base to shop at any time of year, but also for Black Friday. Its main shopping center is anchored by the Bellevue Collection, a triad of shopping malls, the largest of which is Bellevue Square. Within the Bellevue Collection is the Hyatt Regency Bellevue, so it can potentially turn a shopping day into a shopping weekend. There are advantages to staying there, such as being able to take airlift between all the stores in the Bellevue Collection and the Hyatt Regency.
South Sound Malls: In Tacoma, the Tacoma Mall area is the largest mall and is the best place to go for Black Friday. Like other malls in the area, the Tacoma Mall is usually open on Thanksgiving night and many stores remain open throughout the night. Smaller malls in the South Sound include Puyallup’s South Hill and Olympia Capitol Mall.
Malls – If Black Friday deals just aren’t enough, try an outlet mall! The Outlet Collection to the south of Seattle and Seattle Premium Outlets to the north are good Black Friday shopping destinations.
Small Business Saturday
Alternatively, if you’d rather avoid the retail craze, save some or all of your purchases for the Saturday after Thanksgiving, often called Small Business Saturday. Small Business Saturday is about shopping locally rather than at major retailers. It’s a much lower key and you probably won’t get stuck in long lines or parking battles!
