It's true: Black Friday deals are starting even earlier than previous years

Retailers are preparing for Thanksgiving weekend — when consumers get to experience the biggest shopping days of the year, spanning from Black Friday to Cyber Monday. But some gave shoppers an early start by offering holiday deals before Halloween decor had a chance to hit the clearance aisle.

This year in particular, retailers have been starting their Black Friday sales even earlier to entice consumers who are feeling weathered by rising inflation and higher costs for essentials like food and gas.

On Friday afternoon, a steady stream of shoppers walked inside an Old Navy in Lincoln Park. The store at 1730 W. Fullerton Ave. advertised early Black Friday deals of up to 50%, but most shoppers were unaware of the holiday deals.

Kayla Burron, 29, and her friend, Taylor Wilkerson, were rifling through racks of sweaters on their day off.

“I don’t feel like the sales are any different right now,” Wilkerson said.

Burron snagged a set of holiday pajamas, but not as a gift.

“I don’t plan to even do any specific Black Friday shopping, just my regular shopping right now,” she said.

Morgan Majopian was at the store to make a return and ended up with a cart full of winter children’s clothes, including a shiny pink kids puffer vest and a tiny brown sweater dress for her daughter.

“I used to go Downtown a lot for Black Friday, to Nordstrom, with my mom and sister,” she said. “But most of the time I just shop online now.”

The mom of two was unaware of the advertised early holiday sale.

“But I’m going to take advantage of these sales,” she said. “Because I don’t want to be around all those people for Black Friday.”

This holiday season is marred by economic uncertainty. In Chicago, the average price for a gallon of regular gas soared to more than $5 in May. Prices dropped this week to around $4.70, but it's still elevated compared to a year ago when gas cost $3.60, according to AAA.

As the Iran war continues to upend the oil industry, diesel prices have also spiked, recently hitting an all-time high in Chicago on Oct. 25 at $7.03 per gallon. Experts have said higher diesel prices are often passed on to consumers that show up as pricier services and goods like food and shipping fees.

And the University of Michigan's Surveys of Consumers reported consumer sentiment was at 48 in October — slightly higher than the all-time low of 44.8 in May. The survey dates back to 1952 and is closely watched by economists.

"We just came off an election where affordability is an issue. So I think there's also a sensitivity to trying to position deals earlier, knowing that consumers are going to potentially have more limited budgets for the holidays," Illinois Retail Merchants Association CEO Rob Karr said. "I think there's also concern [among retailers] about what Washington will or will not do as it relates to tariffs and supply chains."

Candace Dane Chambers/Sun-Times

Still, consumer spending has been strong, particularly in October. Since 2022, retail spending in October has been higher than September, with a projected a 16.4% gap this year, likely due to Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days last month, according to Adobe Digital Insight’s holiday forecast.

Activewear brand Alo started touting a 30% sale on Oct. 26. Bolingbrook-based beauty retailer Ulta rolled out weekly deals on Oct. 25, advertising "early Black Friday" discounts of up to 50% off premium brands, a holiday promotion it has done for several years.

“Retailers are very conscientious about price and value,” Matt Adams, Chicago-based principal at accounting firm Deloitte, said. “Value is not only about price, but other experiences and convenience and things like that. And they're recognizing that consumers are just wanting to make sure that their dollar is going as far as possible, and so they're very conscientious about the prices that they're offering.”

Target advertised a three-day early Black Friday sale last week, and other major retailers, from Gap and Old Navy to Walmart, have started peddling its early Black Friday sales.

“While the consumer is willing to spend now, at some point they may not be,” Karr said. “In the competitive nature of the retail sector, it's making those deals affordable, while the consumer is in a spending mood, because no one knows when that will end or what will end it.”

The National Retail Federation projects retail spending will reach $1 trillion in November and December, a 4.2% year-over-year increase. In 2025, holiday sales were $972 billion, up 3.1% from 2024.

Victor Hilitski/For the Sun-Times file

“The reality of what's happening across the country and has been for a while now is that the shopping season starts earlier, and individual retailers keep trying to carve out different moments across the holiday season [to] try and be distinct,” Michael Rogosa, vice president of consulting at retail marketer Flywheel, said.

Spending Black Friday at the Fashion Outlets of Chicago is often a yearly tradition for families, but Assistant Manager Conor Dunne said over the last few years, holiday deals have started early.

Dunne estimates more than half of the Rosemont outlet mall's 130 retailers are running sales throughout November, knowing that they can sell more product by starting deals early.

Popular retailers like clothing brand Aritzia and the Kim Kardashian-founded shapewear brand Skims are offering discounts ranging from 30% to 50%, he said. During Black Friday, they often lower prices further, he said.

"[Retailers] see a lot of the same customers," Dunne said. "They see people starting early — maybe they want to avoid the crowds or they want to avoid the big hub of Black Friday. But they see also some shoppers that like to take advantage of [sales] early in the year and then come back for that even better deal on [Thanksgiving] weekend."

But small retailers can't afford to offer steep markdowns like national chains. Becca Girsch, executive director of Lakeview Roscoe Village Chamber of Commerce, said that has prompted small business owners to think creatively to get shoppers in the door such as hosting pop-ups, parties and events.

Girsch said local businesses can feel pressured when big brands tout early holiday sales, with many of them thinking "if I hold off on a sale until Black Friday, am I going to miss all my customers?" she said.

And economic pressures, like high gas prices and tariffs, weigh harder on small businesses, she said.

A Deloitte survey found some Chicagoans plan to spend $991 on retail goods this holiday season. Of the 408 respondents, 31% said they bought at least one holiday item during sales in June, and about a quarter of those surveyed said their budgets were already exhausted by the end of October.

Girsch, who also works with stores in the Southport shopping corridor, said national retailers that make up most of the area now start advertising Black Friday deals as soon as Nov. 1.

"The pumpkins were shrinking away on Oct. 31, and ... that next day it felt like that was the turn of the page. Then it's like 'Okay, these are your early holiday deals,'" she said.