When do Black Friday sales start? What to expect from Walmart, Greatest Buy, and more

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UPDATE: Oct. 22, 2024, 10:40 a.m. EDT This story has been updated with new information about Greatest Buy’s Black Friday plans and hours.

Amazon’s massive Prime Day events generate consistent hype, but Black Friday remains the biggest shopping holiday of the year by far.

Black Friday always takes place on the fourth Friday in November (and the day after Thanksgiving), which happens to fall abnormally late in the month this year. For consumers, that means two things: There’s a shorter-than-usual window for last-minute Christmas shopping, but more-than-usual leeway for scoping out Black Friday deals in advance. Plan accordingly.

I’m a Senior Shopping Reporter at Mashable, and I’ve been covering Black Friday sales since 2019. Here’s what I think you need to know about them in advance — and what you can expect to see from major retailers.

When is Black Friday 2024?

With Thanksgiving slated for Thursday, Nov. 28, Black Friday is happening on Friday, Nov. 29 this year.

That being said, most retailers begin rolling out “early Black Friday deals” well ahead of time (days, if not weeks in advance). Some draw things out even longer with Black Friday discounts that bleed into the following weekend. In practice, Black Friday is not restricted to a rigid 24-hour timeframe.

The same goes for Cyber Monday, a similar but more online-centric shopping holiday that happens the same weekend. (It’s scheduled for Monday, Dec. 2 in 2024.) Most retailers will shift into Cyber Monday mode by the Sunday after Black Friday, if not earlier. The entire weekend’s festivities are typically referred to as “Cyber Weekend.”

Only Greatest Buy has confirmed its plans for these sales so far, but I can make some educated guesses about other retailers’ programming based on previous years.

Black Friday at Greatest Buy

Greatest Buy’s 2024 Black Friday schedule arrived earlier than everyone else’s on Oct. 21, and it’s panning out to be packed.

From Friday, Nov. 8 through Friday, Dec. 20, the electronics retailer will drop new doorbusters on select tech every Friday, with early access the day prior for paid My Greatest Buy members (Plus and Total). A selection of early Black Friday deals will roll out alongside that first batch of doorbusters on Nov. 8 before Greatest Buy’s official Black Friday sale starts on Thursday, Nov. 21 (or eight days ahead of schedule). According to its press release, “[doorbusters] that dropped earlier in the month will return” alongside new deals on Friday, Nov. 22 and actual Black Friday on Nov. 29. Greatest Buy’s Cyber Monday sale then begins Sunday, Dec. 1.

As this is all happening, Greatest Buy will also be launching limited-time deals and restocks in its mobile app as part of its Drops program throughout the holidays. Upcoming Drops include the Samsung Galaxy Buds3 Pro (Oct. 23), the GoPro HERO10 (Oct. 24), and a 98-inch TCL QLED TV (Oct. 25); they’ll go live at 11 a.m. ET on their respective launch days.

If you’re planning on scoping out Greatest Buy’s Black Friday deals early, know that you’re covered by its Holiday Price Match Guarantee in case anything you buy there gets cheaper down the road. Its Extended Holiday Return and Exchange Policy goes into effect next month; most items purchased at Greatest Buy from Nov. 1 to Dec. 31 can be returned through Jan. 14, 2025.

In-person shoppers can take advantage of Greatest Buy’s extended store hours beginning Nov. 3. Check your local store’s listing for specifics.

Greatest Buy Black Friday hours

Greatest Buy’s brick-and-mortar stores will be open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. local time on Black Friday. Feel free to camp out like old times, but no pressure: An FAQ page on the Greatest Buy website notes that “[while] there are usually a small handful of Black Friday Deals that are only available for shoppers in a physical Greatest Buy store, most deals during Black Friday 2024 can be found both online and in store.”

Greatest Buy stores will be closed on Thanksgiving Day, but deals will still be up for grabs its website and app.

Black Friday at Amazon

Amazon formally had began its 2024 holiday shopping season with Prime Big Deal Days, a 48-hour sale for Prime members on Oct. 8 and 9. (You may have seen it referred to as “October Prime Day,” a riff on Amazon’s flagship Prime Day sale in July.) The only sale that’s currently on the retail giant’s calendar is its fourth annual Holiday Beauty Haul, live now through Nov. 3. However, an Amazon blog post notes that “[more] exciting deal events are planned ahead of Black Friday and Cyber Monday.”

Amazon’s Black Friday sale started a week early in 2023, ushering in “some of the lowest prices of the year so far.” New discounts dropped as often as every five minutes during certain periods of the event, and a special selection of deals was timed with the inaugural Black Friday NFL game (aired for free on Prime Video). Many of Amazon’s Black Friday deals then lingered into its Cyber Monday sale, which also got an early launch that Saturday.

Amazon said last year’s extended Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale was its “biggest ever compared to the same 11-day period ending on Cyber Monday in previous years,” so I wouldn’t be surprised if it used the exact same formatting for Black Friday 2024. Expect its announcement to arrive sometime in early November: In 2023, it dropped on Nov. 5.

Black Friday at Walmart

Walmart hosted a Holiday Deals event from Oct. 8 through Oct. 13, which opened online with 12 hours of early access for paid Walmart+ members and continued in stores on Oct. 9. (This marked the earliest-ever start to its year-end shopping season.) Its schedule is currently wide open, but a press release called that sale Walmart’s “first Holiday Deals event of the season” — emphasis mine — and teased “more incredible deals events to come, including its can’t-miss Black Friday and Cyber Monday events.” This would track with Walmart’s past holiday programming, which typically involves multiple sales staggered throughout November.

In 2023, Walmart scattered its “greatest savings of the season” across two Black Friday Deals events in early and late November; the second one directly overlapped with Black Friday proper. These sales kicked off online with a three-hour head start for Walmart+ members before opening to the public, and they went live in stores two days after the fact. They then culminated in a one-day, online-only Cyber Monday sale that also featured early access for the Walmart+ crew.

Walmart likes to compete closely with Amazon, so an early November announcement detailing Walmart’s 2024 plans is also quite likely. Last year, it popped up on Nov. 1.

Walmart Black Friday hours

For shoppers who want to check out those deals in person, Walmart stores are usually open from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. local time on Black Friday. The big-box store has confirmed that its stores will be closed on Thanksgiving Day “so associates can spend the day with their families.”

Black Friday at Target

Target threw its hat into the ring with a Circle Week event from Oct. 6 to 12, presenting members of its free-to-join loyalty program with an opportunity to “save on thousands of items … and get an early start on holiday shopping.” As things currently stand, it doesn’t have any other sales in the pipeline, though it has adjusted the regular prices of over 2,000 items ahead for the season. (The only thing we know for sure about Black Friday at Target is that it will coincide with an exclusive launch of the official Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour Book and physical copies of The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology.)

Target’s 2023 Black Friday sale was a weeklong event packed with its “greatest planned prices of the season” that ran from the Sunday before Black Friday through the Saturday after. It chased that shindig with an online-only Cyber Monday event, which brought in a fresh selection of new deals for the following Sunday and Monday.

Target didn’t announce last year’s programming until Nov. 16, or just three days before the sale started, so sit tight.

Target Black Friday hours

The bullseye brand’s stores will probably open at 6 a.m. local time on Black Friday, as they have been in years past. They’ll for sure be closed on Thanksgiving: Target CEO Brian Cornell made that a permanent policy in 2023.