Today is what we in the US call "Black Friday", the "official" start of the Christmas shopping season (since most everyone has a day off from work after yesterday's Thanksgiving holiday, they have the whole day free to shop; but I, and I bet a lot of other people, try to get some of their shopping done earlier, and most of the time I do have to work today). If the UK doesn't have a holiday around this time analogous to Thanksgiving with a bonus off-day added, when is your Black Friday?

I don't live in the UK anymore, but from when I did, I don't remember any equivalent to "Black Friday". I've been in Canada since 1989 and we don't have it here either - at least not anywhere I've lived. Thanksgiving in Canada is in October and Christmas stuff is in the shops as soon as Halloween is over, if not before. I don't remember that from the UK either, but that may be a change over time, rather than country. Some individual municipalities have "Moonlight Madness" evenings where stores are open late (often until midnight) on a single day, usually in November or early December but there's nothing I've ever seen like the US and their Thanksgiving. Are there big sales? or are the shops just open longer hours?

Big sales and open longer hours, I stay home and wait for it to be over.

We don't have a black Friday. Shops stay open later in the run up to christmas.

Boxing Day sales are as close as it gets but I have seen nothing like Black Friday in the time that I have lived in the UK. Black Friday sales are insane

As Sarah Jayne says we have the Boxing Day sales (day after Christmas). In the run up to Christmas we don't have any holidays but do have late night shopping from now until Christmas.

Kitty

Yes and sometimes staff are allowed a half day for shopping but not heard anyone having this off now. We don't need a day dedicated to Christmas shopping though, unlike you Yanks - I understand you don't have Christmas things in the shops until Thanksgiving is out of the way and the next day is the start of Christmas shopping - the 'black Friday' you are referring to. Well, from October I think or maybe even September Christmas seems to be around in the shoos! Then while Chritmas is fresh in our mind - the shops turn their attention to Easter! Mind you I think hot cross buns are around all year round!!!

Total madness. No wonder people get so depressed at thsi time of year - all that ballyhoo for one blasted day!!!!

It isn't a case of needing a day for Christmas shopping as much as it has just become a tradition for the Christmas sales to start the day after Thanksgiving. Most people have that day off and so they are available to shop. So, over the years the sales have become more and more extreme (last time I was home on Black Friday I went clothing shopping where the clothing was 80 percent off on that day) so that they can compete to get those shoppers through their door on that day. You wait to see what loss leaders the big chains are going to have (often not made public until that morning or the day before)..when I was home for it two years ago Walmart was doing Laptops for $200. Of course, each store only has a limited number of the big deal products so it becomes a case of getting there early and people going nuts to get them.

I just go get cheap clothing

Personally, Thanksgiving is the one holiday I miss the most when I am not in the States. It is the one day that more or less everybody celebrates as it isn't based on a particular religion and it is really about family. Sort of the yearly gathering of the clans.

Though, I will admit that having one day dedicated to overeating and watching sports and the next day dedicated to capitalism is just about the perfect American holiday

KforKitty, what kind of shop hours does the UK normally have (outside of the Xmas season)? In the US they vary from place to place (some states have Sunday-closing laws) but in Minnesota where I'm from most shops, particularly big discount stores like WalMart or Target, are open evenings and Sundays, and shorter hours on holidays other than Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas; many supermarkets and drugstores are open 24/7 (I've heard of some 24-h WalMarts but don't know where they are); traditional downtown department stores used to close around 6 or 7 pm except for December (it's been so long since I've shopped in a downtown department store I can't say for certain any more) but their suburban mall branches will be open evenings. From my visits to the UK I kind of remember the shops closed around 6 pm and were closed Sundays, but I haven't been there in over 20 years.

peacock2, the Christmas stuff starts creeping into stores in mid-October and comes out full blast after Halloween

ANOther- I work in a 24/7 wal-mart. We have a few of them in AZ
I had to work the night of black friday (what wal-mart calls "Blitz") it took about 4 hours to set up all the sale items. People were waiting in electronics at 9PM thrusday night.. the sale didn't start until 5AM friday morning. They had $300 laptops and $490 32" flat screens, $1,200 52" flat screens. and a $200 19" HD LCD flat screen. along with the countless toys, winter clothes...ect it was a mad house by 4 am.
We ran out of shopping carts by 4:30 and a line streched half the store to get to the didgital camera bundles.

It took about 10 minutes to get from the back of the store to the front to go home. Once 5 AM hit, and everyone was allowed to start putting the blitz items in their carts... it was every man for himself.

Before I left.. I saw one man grab a long bed cart a load up with SEVEN 32" tvs and pay cash! @_@ egads.

I live near a large city and I can supermarket shop 24 hours a day Monday-Saturday. There are still Sunday trading laws but they've been relaxed somewhat and most shops will open for at least 6 or 7 hours. I too seldom shop in town so don't really know when the shops close but this time of year many will stay open a couple of days a week until about 8pm. The opening times at our local mall (Meadowhall) will be longer than the city centre shops until 7 or 8pm and maybe until around 10pm on some evenings in the lead up to Christmas.

I'm not much of a shopper myself and tend to Christmas shop at the wholesale markets (Makro and Costco) and what I can't get there I get mailorder online.

Kitty

Some shops open late on a sunday - about 11ish (to annoy me mostly) am I the only one cursing when I get to Kingston at 9.30 and none of th eshops I want to go to are open then. Grrr.

Some shops shut at 4-ish on that day. Of course some ethnic shops have their own ideas of when to open and shut. I remember when we lived in Dulwich and the lady in the shop around the corner was open Christmas day and sold I think 1 lettuce .