Calgarians take on Black Friday sales despite high inflation, cost of living

Calgarians are embracing Black Friday sales, as they look to combat high inflation and the rising cost of living.

“I woke up at 6 a.m. knowing that I’m coming to Southcentre Mall to do the Black Friday,” said Myrna Tgteegee.

With the holidays right around the corner, some shoppers at Southcentre Mall are pinching their pennies, while others are ready to spend whatever it takes.

“I’ve put a budget on giving holiday gifts … Very important due to property taxes going up,” Tgteegee said.

Arzo Qasimi, another shopper, added, “I don't really have a budget. But, yeah, I'm not planning to spend that much money, saving up.”

According to Deloitte Canada’s holiday retail outlook, people across the country plan on spending about 11 per cent less on gifts this year compared to last.

“Which is probably not a big surprise given the economic context and the struggle most Canadian households have,” said Marty Weintraub, national retail leader for Deloitte Canada.

Statistics Canada data shows retail numbers for September were slightly down across the country, but not everywhere.

“In Alberta, different story. We're actually up 0.9 per cent. So we're better than the overall country,” said Faisal Karmali, with CIBC Wood Gundy Popowich Karmali Advisory Group.

The store manager for Calgary-based Bare Athleticwear at Southcentre Mall said it’s important for people to shop locally on days like this.

“I think Calgarians love shopping local. They love supporting the small guys and it's important for our small people like us in our store to feel the love of Calgarians spending their hard-earned money in our store,” said Sarah Mills.

Deloitte’s study shows Canadians want to support local businesses, but often end up going to big box stores instead since they may offer better deals.

“We open at eight in the morning and there were customers waiting outside already,” said Rashmeet Singh, manager of a Calgary Best Buy.

“Black Friday is becoming the beast of all holiday seasons and people are becoming more aware of deals now.”

The Deloitte study also found that 12 per cent of Canadians plan on starting their holiday shopping on Black Friday and this weekend.

About one in 10 expect to finish buying their gifts on Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

“We know they're going to shop discounts and be shopping for deals probably like never before, which is another insight that came out of our study and we're going to see customers go to about 17 different stores on websites to try to find the best possible deals this season,” Weintraub said.