Were Black Friday Sales Less Impressive This Year?

[il.bill]

Looking through the hundreds(?) of e-mails with 2017 Black Friday Deals, I came away less than impressed this year. Maybe I am just getting older and more jaded and crabbier as I get closer to qualifying for Medicare, perhaps it was because I took advantage of numerous 'deals' in the last year (I have more than one AR15 build waiting its turn at the moment) as sellers unloaded merchandise that became excess inventory when we failed to elect our first woman president, or maybe I am just buying less overall as an aging consumer.

Did others also find the Black Friday 'deals' less compelling this year?

Did you find any deals 'too good to pass up' and what were they?

 

[CLP]

I was disappointed with all black Friday sales, both gun-related and not. I either have it, or the things I want but aren't ready to buy weren't significantly discounted.

 

[JeffG]

Ya, offering me $5 for every $100 spent is lack luster...besides, I'm short of funds.

 

[shafter]

I saw Smith and Wesson M&P full size for $259. I also saw some great deal on Sigs.

 

[montanaoffroader]

I didn't find many good deals either - certainly nothing worth standing in line for. Last year I did pretty well, got some great deals on quite a few items. This year, not so much.

I did get decent buys online on a new Kindle for the wife and a range bag for the kid. But nothing else I couldn't live without.

Oh well, maybe next year........

 

[JONWILL]

Not any at all. The only things I have picked up recently were the RM380 and RP9 just due to the $100 off.

Otherwise I didn't see anything that blew my skirt up.

 

[Hokie_PhD]

I saw Smith and Wesson M&P full size for $259. I also saw some great deal on Sigs.

Omg where did you see that?
Was it a 2.0? If so that was a killer deal, if not it was a really good deal.

Wish I’d have seen it

 

[Fine Figure of a Man]

I found better deals throughout the year than Black Friday

 

[psyopspec]

The deals were present, but the urgency to buy was not. I picked up a Trijicon RMR, something I’ve been thinking about for years. Passed o the $360 glocks, $270 Shields, and $86 hi-points (tempting though it was). Passed also on the .30 cent-per-round 5.56 and <.20 CPR factory 9mm due to lack of need.

 

[Mr. Hill]

The sales weren’t that great this year for guns or electronic stuff. Bought a new tv for good, not great, price. I bought some .22 LR and .45 auto ammo for regular price to add to the stash.

 

[reddog81]

I picked up a Winchester XPR for $339 from grabagun.com and Winchester has a $100 rebate. I wasn't planning on buying anything but I have been looking for a bolt action in .30-06 newer than my Springfield 1903.

Nothing else impressed me too much. I've been looking out for an upper in 300 Blackout for over a year and figured I might find one this weekend but the wait goes on.

 

[Fine Figure of a Man]

I did order 30 boxes of Rem. Nitro steel. $10 per box rebate.
Can't complain about that

 

[DavidABQ]

With the exception of a local gun store's sale on ammo there was nothing from the big stores that made me was to spend money.

 

[JO JO]

the only thing I bought was some projectiles from xtreme bullets , 20% off and free shipping other then that I did not see any deep discounts on anything I wanted

 

[John Joseph]

Lots of free shipping on ammo to California. Word of the Ammogeddon must be getting around.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

This year there were decent discounts on a lot of guns and ammo in the local sales papers.
We even have a new sporting goods store with a large ammo, handgun and longgun selection open in the shopping mall.

But I am looking at putting a water pump on the truck and really need to buy a good used vehicle as a backup. Sooo no sales to me Friday.

Had Thanksgiving lunch with my son at my daughter-in-law's family, Thanksgiving dinner at my daughter's, and spent Friday with my son and my D-I-L's father scouting used car lots.

 

[imashooter]

I saw several good deals and took advantage of a few.

 

[Sergei Mosin]

After spending a considerable portion of my youth working in the family store and putting in many long Black Fridays, you won't catch me anywhere near a retailer the day after Thanksgiving!

 

[hdwhit]

il.bill asked:
Did others also find the Black Friday 'deals' less compelling this year?

Yes.

I found the deals offered in the first half of the year (when everyone was selling anything that wasn't nailed down to just generate some cash) to have been much better than what was offered during "Black Friday". Back in April and May, I was regularly catching sales of 20, 25 even 30% and those same sellers were for the most part this time offering just 10%.

Now, it may be just me, but when it originated, "Black Friday" was a marketing "event" designed to kick off the Holiday Season with limited quantity offerings of merchandise priced at ridiculously low prices that would draw crowds into the stores. Now, we have "Pre-Black Friday" sales and "Black Friday Weeks". I've heard of a "Month of Sundays", but not a month of "Black Fridays", yet starting right after Halloween, I started seeing "Black Friday" being touted in advertisements. As a general rule, if I see someone calling their promotions after Halloween and before New Year's "Black" anything, I will take my business to someone else who isn't trying to get yet another mile out of a worn-out cliche.

Did you find any deals 'too good to pass up' and what were they?

All I'm interested in right now are reloading components for 9mm and 223/556 and other than some powder and primers I bought at a rural gun store in Ash Flat, Arkansas, where the owner wasn't running a sale and I paid full price, I found nobody offering anything that I regarded as "too good to pass up".

 

[IlikeSA]

I got 200 brass SIG .357 cases for 25% off. That's all that interested me.

 

[ontarget]

Nothing worth standing in line for. I am within easy driving distance to Cabelas, Dunhams, and many other big gun stores. Most of the B.F. prices they were offering were still higher than the prices easily found year round. Not impressed this year at all.

 

[giggitygiggity]

I didn't see anything impressive. However, I think it is relative... we have been in a buyer's market this past year with gun companies offering crazy deals and rebates. As such, since we have become accustomed to the low prices, it is difficult for them to seem impressive.

 

[DT Guy]

An LGS had XD-S 3.3's in .45 ACP for $299-I ended up with one, along with 250 rounds of Blazer aluminium cased .45 and a Pearce grip extender, for just under $400 with tax. I think that was an excellent deal.


Larry

 

[il.bill]

Now I have to admit that a couple of Cyber Monday deals have peaked my interest.

A Colt LE6920 plus a Glock 43 FDE for $1099.00 delivered looked pretty good - I probably will not pull that trigger, but at least it has me thinking ...

 

[Moparnut]

Best deal I saw, was a Burris Fullfield E1 at Cabela's 3-9x40 with ballistic Plex for $149.