GARY NYLANDER/The Daily Courier The Brick in Kelowna will open its doors at 6 a.m. Friday for its Black Friday sale, according to manager Tom St. George.

Kelowna retailers have jumped on the American Black Friday bandwagon. "Everybody in Canada knows about those great Black Friday sales from being bombarded with all the ads on U.S. TV channels," said Tom St. George, manager of The Brick in Kelowna.
"So it's a natural for Canadian stores to start holding their own Black Friday sales. We've been doing it for four years now and we expect huge crowds on Friday."
In fact, The Brick, located in the McCurdy Corner mall on Highway 97, is opening its doors at 6 a.m. Friday to accommodate the expected onslaught of bargain seekers.
With merchandise like half-price leather sofas, $198 32-inch high definition LCD TVs, 60 per cent off mattresses and steep reductions on bedroom sets and appliances, St. George is preparing to be busy.
"Basically, these are Boxing Day prices early on furniture and electronics," said St. George.
"So there's no reason to wait for Boxing Day."
Although the reality is, stores will hold huge sales again on Boxing Day because that's when retailers want to shift product and when shoppers want to pick up stuff cheap.
Black Friday originated in the U.S. and always falls the day after American Thanksgiving.
The hype and incredible prices are meant to kick off the Christmas shopping season with a bang.
And its called Black Friday because it's the day retailers start to come into the black financially as they embark on the busiest shopping month of the year.
It's become a phenomenon in the U.S., with stores whipping consumers into a frenzy with advertising blitzes,
pre-dawn openings and shoppers stampeding for deals.
It helps that most Americans are off work the day after Thanksgiving and have an appetite for getting up early and braving the crowds for bargains.
Visions Electronics at Highway 97 and Highway 33 is also going big on Black Friday.
"It's harvest time in electronics," said store manager Jordon Skinner.
"Summer can be slow for electronics, so we really look
forward to Black Friday launching our busiest time of the year going into Christmas and Boxing week."
Skinner also sees Black Friday as a way for Visions to capture shoppers' attention, gain marketshare and grow sales.
"The reality is, it is better to make less on a lot rather than a lot on less," he said.
"So our goal is to move a lot of product at great prices."
Visions will open at 8 a.m. on Friday instead of its usual
10 a.m.
The Home Depot chain is U.S.-based, so it only makes sense that it would transfer the Black Friday model to its Canadian stores.
"We're actually having a whole week (Nov. 22-28) sale called Wrap Up the Savings to coincide with Black Friday," said assistant manager Corey Pilling.
"It's when we'll start offering all the Christmas decor at great prices and offer discounts on all regular items from windshield washer fluid and flooring to lighting and tools."
The Forzani Group - owners of the SportChek and SportMart chains - is rolling out Black Friday in all its stores across the country.
"Canadians already know all about Black Friday from what the Americans are doing, so we might as well do it here too," said Thai Nguyen, the assistant manager at SportMart Kelowna.
"It's catching on in Kelowna."
SportMart will open at 8 a.m. on Friday, an hour-and-a-half earlier than usual, and offer deals like half-price running shoes,
50 to 80 per cent off clothing and outerwear, 40 per cent off ski packages, and deals on hockey equipment and skates.
SportMart is also maximizing the sale by holding it from
today through Monday.