Black Friday for in-store shopping appears to underwhelm in Metro Vancouver

While the final numbers aren’t in yet, this year’s Black Friday is said to have been a shadow of its former self this year at many local malls in Metro Vancouver.

It’s being suggested by retail experts that things have changed for “brick and mortar” retailers since people were once comfortable crowding into shopping centres and lining up for hours.

Retail strategist David Ian Gray with Dig 360 says even for stores that promoted Black Friday, they were held back by not only supply issues, but also staffing shortages.

This is Sunday, but again, the damage does not get fixed immediately. So many routes have one of these, and rail lines impacted too. #BCFlood #SupplyChainCrisis https://t.co/rMBhQQ4PwK

— David Ian Gray (@DavidIanGray) November 17, 2021

Pacific Centre Mall saw relatively normal-sized crowds on Friday.

“The unpredictability means that what used to be well laid out in advanced marketing plans that circled on key products to promote, that’s almost out the window in most cases right now. It’s almost that we sell whatever we can get our hands on,” he said.

“When they’re in hyper-deal mode at that moment, everything’s on super discount, which is great for the consumer but it’s not necessarily great for the retailer or the brand.”

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He says excitement surrounding Black Friday had been fading even in the “before times” — pre-pandemic.

“I think the industry was starting to realize it created a monster for itself in a couple of ways. One is this notion of big, spiky peaks of demand followed by a trough of demand where people aren’t coming in,” he said.

“Around peak days, it really puts the strain on the people.”

He notes some stores have been adapting by stretching Black Friday events out over a few days, or even a week, to avoid attracting large crowds into their shops.