Tomorrow is Black Friday, and you might be asking yourself if it's worth hitting the mean streets—and the even meaner mobs—just to score a deal. It's probably not. Veg out at home and score deals just as sweet.
Photo by Hello Turkey Toe.
Traditionally Black Friday is a day of gladiatorial in-store combat where the most ruthless shoppers take home the biggest pile of loot—and even then only if they're up bright and early. Skip the crowds, the lines, and the possibility of getting assaulted by an aggressive grandmother; this year stores are offering awesome deals online.
Thanks to the lackluster sales of the last few years combined with the American shopper holding their pocketbooks tighter than they have in decades, retailers are doing whatever it takes to turn a profit—including taking Black Friday sales online. If you haven't already checked out today's massive Black Friday deal feature, you should give it a look over—while it dishes the dirt on in-store only details it has plenty of online deals too. Unlike prior years this year marks a massive uptick in the trend of brick and mortar stores offering dual in-store and online sales—and often for the exact same items at great prices.
There's no way for us to check every major retailer, while many of them have been very open with their Black Friday sales and the accompanying online counterpart others have been more secretive in hopes of driving people into the stores. Your best bet is to grab the Thanksgiving circulars and check out the websites of the individual retailers. If you're debating, for example, trudging to Electronic Junks 'R Us you might be pleasantly surprised to find that HDTV you want is for sale online at the same price. That said, we've rounded up quite a few of the major retailers who have been making some noise about their Black Friday offerings. Check out the following list to see where you can skip risking life and limb to simply order from the comfort of your couch.
Best Buy: Gone are the insane waits outside of Best Buys across the nation. Doorbuster products will be available starting today as well as all the other advertised Black Friday specials. You can also score free shipping on almost everything.
Macy's: Like Best Buy, Macy's is offering the same doorbusters online as it has in stores. Unlike Best Buy they won't be offering them until tomorrow.
Kohl's: You can skip waiting in line at Kohl's, they're offering 400+ sales from their brick-and-mortar Black Friday sales starting today. Black Friday shoppers won't have access to the same deals until 3AM on Black Friday.
Lowe's: As of today you can score Lowe's in-store deals online with free-shipping to boot—for items under 70 pounds that can fit in a standard shipping box. Since Lowe's is closed on Thanksgiving, however, it seems like you should have no problem ordering a large item online and selecting store pickup. Wait until the crowds die off and go pick up your item in person tomorrow.
Target: Unlike some of the more generous vendors in the list, Target isn't offering any doorbusters online. You can still score all the non-doorbuster deals starting today and skip the store tomorrow.
Wal-Mart: Starting today Wal-Mart is offering online-only deals with free shipping on any order—no minimum purchase necessary. Not all of Wal-Mart's super awesome deals are on online however. If you want some of their traditional doorbusters like discounted video game systems you'll have to visit in person.
Amazon: Amazon doesn't have a brick-and-mortar storefront but we're ending the list with them because of their aggressive price matching policy this year. According to their Black Friday page they're scanning the deals of other retailers and offering price matching and free shipping on numerous items.
This year it pays to save yourself the stress of Black Friday and do your holiday shopping online. Between the massive Black Friday deals list we shared with you earlier today—peppered with online deals—and checking out your favorite stores for online offers today and tomorrow, you stand to save a ton without waiting in line, getting your car dinged up, or spending 2 hours fighting crowds just to find out they have no more door busters.