Punters return to Scotland’s busiest shopping street to hunt Black Friday deals

HUNDREDS of punters descended on the streets of Scotland’s busiest shopping district to take advantage of this year’s Black Friday deals.

Black Friday, which falls on November 24 in 2023, is considered one of the biggest shopping days of the year.

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After nearly three years of deserted high streets due to the pandemic, shoppers are returning Glasgow City Centre in their droves to take try and track down a bargain on the biggest shopping day of the year.

IT Worker Shirley Anne Moore, 55, took the day off work to spend the day shopping with her daughters engineering student Lara, 19, and analyst Rachel, 24.

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The trio, from Bishopbriggs, hunted down jackets from Hollister with a 30 per cent discount, and took advantage of scratch cards from River Island which offered a variety of discounts off every between 15-40%.

Mum Shirley told the Scottish Sun: “We’ve already got some great bargains, we really like to make a day of it.

“We’ve already got a better deal than last year, I feel the shops are making more of an effort.

“You’ve got to keep on looking but it is great to have full priced items discounted significantly.

“It is definitely better than last year and it is definitely busier.

Store manager Thomas O’Reilly, 52, from Glasgow‘s East End popped in for a look.

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He said the best discounts he’s seen have been at discount retailer Costco.

Black Friday usually falls the day after Thanksgiving in the States.

He said: “It is usually an online things but I went up to CostCo first and there was so much tax free offers – it is very much like America.

“If you want to stock up on food, drinks and other bulk items you are going to get the best discount up there – even more so than usual.

“The deals I’ve seen in town today, are more like percentage of how much you spend. It is going to run all month so I might come back but as much as I like to browse, the best retail deals I’ve seen are still online.”

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Student Molly Nicole, 23, travelled through from Dunfermline, Fife, to bag some deals.

She said: “They do sort of pull you in with the promise of massive savings, but I did manage to pick up something I wanted.

“You have to spend a bit to get the discount but the best deals are places that offer discount for everything, not just sale stock.

“Accessorise and Urban Outfitter have 20 per cent across everything today which is great.”

Lynn Mackay, 56, Phyllis Lee, 61, Allison Duncan, 60 and Elaine Spark, 61, have been friends for 30 years.

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The group used to travel down together from their home city of Aberdeen for a big shopping weekend on Black Friday every year before the pandemic.

This is the first year the foursome have made the trip – and intend to return every year now restrictions are over and life is returning to normal.

Practice reception manager Allison explained to the Scottish Sun how they love to shop in Glasgow over Aberdeen as it is the best place in Scotland for the retail experience.

She said: “We love Glasgow as we love House of Fraser, John Lewis and all the big names that Aberdeen doesn’t have.

“We are off a generation that likes to go into shops and actually see a product online.

“It is not able just getting the item online, it is the experience as well.

“We will stay here all weekend.

“Just to see the items, touch them, that is huge for us. We are going to restart our shopping tradition every year now.”

It comes as B&M, Home Bargains and M&S have all confirmed they WON’T be doing Black Friday sales this year in a blow for shoppers.

Quite a few retailers decided not to take part in the mega-sale event every year in stark contrast to rivals who sometimes roll out discounts three weeks ahead of the date.

Black Friday, which falls on November 24 in 2023, is considered one of the biggest shopping days of the year – but not all retailers take part.

Next hasn’t confirmed they will be having a Black Friday sale this year but there are no promotions advertised on its website so far.

The decision to back out of Black Friday means shoppers won’t be able to get cut-price clothes and homeware this year.

In previous years, Next’s notorious sales have people queuing from as early as 6am, with savings of up to 70% off.

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