Shoppers in Calgary jump at Black Friday deals amid rising cost of living
Shoppers in Calgary jump at Black Friday deals amid rising cost of living
The holiday shopping season is here, but many shoppers in Calgary and across the country will be clamping down financially, given the rising cost of living.
Canada's inflation rate peaked in June at 8.1 per cent, which was the highest the country had seen in nearly four decades.
It has since cooled off to 6.9 per cent in October, but food and energy prices remain high as Albertans brace for colder weather and, in turn, higher utility bills.
"This is a time of the year that you really need to think through and be mindful with your purchases,” said personal finance educator Kelley Keehn. “Get back to basics, needs versus wants."
That's why this year's Black Friday deals are expected to draw in more people than in previous years.
"Based on Moneris’ predictive data, we are expecting to see Black Friday as the reigning champion of the busiest day of the year, and that's in transactions and dollar amount," David Litwin, spokesperson for Moneris Canada, told CTV News Thursday.
Tina Nikolaou and Varvara Nikolaou-Hilderman were among those who made an early morning pilgrimage to Calgary's CF Chinook Centre in search of sales.
"I would do it this year more than other years but I always love doing Black Friday and just seeing what the deals are," said Nikolaou. "Not necessarily always buying something if I don't need it, but just getting up and running. Getting the spirit of Christmas and seeing all this stuff and just having fun.
“During (the height of the pandemic), our shopping was all online. But last year, I was back in the mall. I just like being out. I don't like being at home doing the shopping. I like to see the items in person because sometimes you don't get what you need online."
"It's really exciting to be back and have the sales," added Nikolaou-Hilderman. "I've been saving my money so I can go out and get some of the nice stuff that I've been seeing online."
Darren Milne, CF Chinook Centre general manager, says there's reason for optimism regarding this year's turnout.
"We feel like it's going to be a big year for Black Friday because of the pandemic. We expect there to be a lot of people out for Black Friday. What's on people's minds is inflation and the cost of goods."
According to the Retail Council of Canada (RCC), Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales have propelled November ahead of December as the busiest shopping month of the year in Canada.
Boxing Day had previously been the nation's peak shopping day.
"It's really a week-long event, it's not really just Black Friday or Cyber Monday, it's really a week-long showcase event that continues throughout the holiday season," Michelle Wasylyshen, with RCC, told CTV News Toronto in an interview.
“We are seeing that most consumers don’t want to shop a few days before Christmas and they want to avoid the hectic rush, so November does now seem to be the busiest time when people are getting their shopping done."
Analysts say that because of the pandemic, consumers also bought a lot of laptops and home office equipment over the last few years, which could be good news if you're looking for deals on electronics.
Paying attention to social media accounts and promo codes will help anyone looking to take advantage of online sales. That said, sticking to a strict budget is a good idea, despite some tempting sales events.
"We're going into a very expensive holiday season and I know that temptation is around every corner," said Keehn. "ou open up any of your social media, you open up your email, and there's a deluge of incredible deals and sales and things of that sort.
"You have to stop, especially for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and just say, ‘Look, is that something that you would have bought or needed or even intended on having?’ Are you only being enticed because of the sale?"
With files from CTV News' Pat Foran and Chris Campbell
Convicted murderer Daniel Jolivet, in prison for the past 30 years, has maintained his innocence since the day he was arrested. W5 reviews the evidence he painstakingly assembled while behind bars. W5's documentary 'Buried Evidence' airs Saturday at 7 p.m. on CTV.
The massive white orb drifting across U.S. airspace has triggered a diplomatic maelstrom and is blowing up on social media. A look at what's known about the balloon crossing the U.S. and what isn't.
The oldest preserved vertebrate brain has been found in a 319-million-year-old fossilized fish skull that was removed from an English coal mine over a century ago.
In the field of cancer treatment, nothing is more important than diagnosing and treating the problem as quickly as possible — but according to new survey data, about one in four Canadian cancer patients report that they are still experiencing cancelled or postponed appointments.
A train derailment and resulting large fire prompted an evacuation order and a declaration of a state of emergency in an Ohio village near the Pennsylvania state line on Friday night, covering the area in billows of smoke lit orange by the flames below.
A man who took part in four traffic-stopping protests in Metro Vancouver in an effort to save old-growth forests has been given a conditional sentence and six months' probation by a provincial court judge.
Vancouver Canucks faithful have seen it all during yet another disappointing season - and several say they're frustrated not only with the on-ice performance, but with a lack of answers from the team's front office.
With all of the Maritimes still under extreme cold warnings Saturday morning, more than 28,000 households and businesses are without power, as of 1 p.m.
The first North Atlantic right whale to be entangled in connection to Canada’s lobster fishery in over five years has been successfully rescued by marine mammal rescue responders in the United States.
A man who took part in four traffic-stopping protests in Metro Vancouver in an effort to save old-growth forests has been given a conditional sentence and six months' probation by a provincial court judge.
An emergency room doctor on Vancouver Island is calling on the leadership of the health authority to resign, saying harassment by Island Health officials is prompting doctors to abandon the region amid a critical shortage of health-care workers.
After being charged with speeding by a city-operated photo radar device, a Toronto family was able to successfully fight the charge in court largely due to one small detail.
Torontonians appear to be returning downtown in greater numbers but the pace of the city’s economic recovery still lags behind many other North American cities, a new study suggests.
Residents from Quebec to Newfoundland and Labrador are waking up this morning to more extreme cold weather. Emergency officials warned people to seek shelter and monitor for frostbite if they had to be outside overnight, as the temperature across much of Eastern Canada was expected to feel like -40 C to -50 C with the wind chill.
A Quebec university study found that nearly three years of the pandemic have had an effect on the travel habits of Quebecers: even with the partial or complete lifting of restrictions, they increasingly prefer to travel at home. The most recent Cahier des tendances published by the Transat Chair in Tourism at the École des sciences de la gestion de l'UQAM revealed that inflation and health measures hurt many Quebecers.
The suspected Chinese surveillance balloon that was found floating over sensitive military sites in the western United States had been tracked by Canada's government since last weekend as it passed through Canadian airspace, sources tell CTV News.
An investigation that lasted almost two years has resulted in moose hunting violation convictions for six people and a lodge in Red Lake in northwestern Ontario.
Convicted murderer Daniel Jolivet, in prison for the past 30 years, has maintained his innocence since the day he was arrested. W5 reviews the evidence he painstakingly assembled while behind bars. W5's documentary 'Buried Evidence' airs Saturday at 7 p.m. on CTV.
The owner of Radical Gardens, a restaurant in Timmins said she's experienced nineteen robberies over the last eight years; with the most recent one taking place in the early morning hours Friday.
Winnipeg police released a new image of a 31-year-old woman who has been missing since early last year on Friday in the hope it may generate new information on her whereabouts.
A fire destroyed a popular paint and hobby shop in Winkler Thursday afternoon with black smoke prompting Winkler police to close off a stretch of Highway 32 for more than an hour.
Saskatchewan is reacting to the removal of controversial amendment G4 to Bill C-21 by the federal Liberals, which banned certain semi-automatic rifles and shotguns.
