Store hours, deals to know for Black Friday

Black Friday kicks off the holiday shopping season, and retailers are expecting a busy day.

Over 166 million people are expected to shop in-store and online this year between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday, according to an annual survey from the National Retail Federation. That is about 8 million more shoppers than last year, and it’s the highest estimation since the federation began tracking shoppers in 2017.

Retailers, apart from some grocery stores, will once again remain closed on Thanksgiving Day for the third time in a row. Stores, for the last decade, had started spilling sales events into Thanksgiving evening prior to Black Friday. But that tradition was killed by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, when no stores opened on Thanksgiving and pushed a lot of sales online.

Pre-pandemic Black Friday appears to not be returning, with all nearby retailers in Johnson County, including the Greenwood Park Mall, Indiana Premium Outlets, Target, Walmart, Best Buy, Kohl’s and Costco Wholesale, saving their doorbusters for the early hours of Friday morning.

Most stores have also already been offering “Black Friday Week” sales all week, and some even since the start of November — another pandemic-related change.

The Greenwood Park Mall — home to several stores including Macy’s, JCPenney, Hollister, American Eagle and Bath and Body Works — will open at 6 a.m. until 9 p.m. Friday. Most of these stores have already started hosting sales this week, both online and in-store.

Santa will make an appearance at the mall starting at 11 a.m. Friday, and shoppers can stop by his display near Von Maur to share their gift wishes and grab a photo.

Additionally, the mall will be providing “surprise and delight” opportunities throughout the day to shoppers, including “tasty treats and giveaways,” said Tiffani Adkins, director of marketing and business development at the Greenwood Park Mall. The mall is expecting a crowd, she said.

“While it’s too soon to project sales, we’re seeing lots of shopping bags, busy Santa set activity and full parking lots,” Adkins said.

Security, as always, is top of mind for the mall for Black Friday, especially following a mass shooting in July, and another gun-related incident in October when a man dropped a loaded magazine in the food court.

The mall is working closely with the Greenwood Police Department for security and extra patrols on Friday. A number of “proactive security measures” are also planned for the mall’s in-house security team, including patrols inside and in the parking lot, Adkins said.

Simon Malls’ other local property, Indiana Premium Outlets in Edinburgh, will also be open from 6 a.m. until 9 p.m. The outlet mall is home to several stores, including Coach, Banana Republic, Nike, Crocs and Kate Spade.

Besides the malls, Target in Greenwood will be open from 7 a.m. until 10 p.m. Friday. Target has been promoting “Black Friday Week” since Sunday, hosting sales online and in stores on various items.

Deals include up to 50% off various toy brands including Barbie, Marvel and Our Generation, and 40% off Lego toys, according to a news release from Target. The store is also offering $200 off KitchenAid Stand Mixers.

Kohl’s is enticing shoppers to make the store their first stop on Black Friday this year by giving away more than $1 million in prizes to the first 200 in-person shoppers, according to a news release from the store.

The new sweepstakes is dubbed “TGIBF” and the first guests have a chance to win a variety of prizes from a family trip to LEGOLAND, to prizes from top brands including Shark, Ninja, Cuisinart and Samsonite, as well as Sephora at Kohl’s gift cards and Kohl’s Cash. Kohl’s has locations in Greenwood and Franklin, and will be open from 5 a.m. to midnight.

At Best Buy, doors open at the Greenwood store starting at 5 a.m. Friday until 10 p.m. Deals have already started for all shoppers this week, including up to $500 off MacBook models, and hundreds off several laptop brands, headphones and electric scooters.

At Costco Wholesale, with one location on the south side just north of Greenwood, doors open at 9 a.m. Friday until 8:30 p.m. Big deals for the members-only wholesale store include $100 off KitchenAid Stand Mixers and $100 of a 13-inch MacBook Pro.

Walmart is closed Thanksgiving Day, and will open its doors starting at 6 a.m. Friday. The store has hosted Black Friday sales all November with several online deals each week leading to Friday. In-store deals include hundreds off TVs, sales on video games, smart home devices and several toy brands.

Top toy gifts for children this year, according to the National Retail Federation, include Barbie, Legos, Xbox, video games, Pokémon, American Girl dolls, Squishmallows, remote control cars and Disney-related items.

For those looking to get a real Christmas tree this year, two local tree farms will open this weekend. Peiffer Christmas Tree Farm in Trafalgar opens Thursday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and the rest of the weekend from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Trees from DeHart in Franklin opens Friday at 9 a.m. until dark, and will be open on weekends after during the same hours.


IF YOU GO

Black Friday 2022 hours

Greenwood Park Mall

6 a.m. -9 p.m.

Indiana Premium Outlets (Edinburgh)

6 a.m. -9 p.m.

Best Buy

5 a.m. -10 p.m.

Costco Wholesale

9 a.m. -8:30 p.m.

Kohl’s

5 a.m. -midnight

Lowe’s

6 a.m. -9 p.m.

Marshalls

7 a.m. -10 p.m..

Target

7 a.m. -10 p.m.

T.J. Maxx

7 a.m. -10 p.m.

Ross

7 a.m. -11:30 p.m.

Walmart

6 a.m. -11 p.m.