Black Friday is going to look a whole lot different this year

News 11's Adonis Albright looks into how the pandemic will affect shoppers

YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - Every year after Thanksgiving dinner, people typically head out to the stores in droves to shop til they drop. But because of the pandemic, this year is expected to look a whole lot different.

Most stores will be closed on Thanksgiving day, and major retailers are encouraging people to shop online.

Jon Vincent is the spokesperson and founder of earlyblackfriday.com, a website that compiles all the best deals from hundreds of retailers. Vincent said stores are incentivizing online shopping this year.

“They actually don’t want you to go to the stores. But they’re still having Black Friday sales and they’re still releasing Black Friday advertisements. So if you look on the front page of the Black Friday advertisement, it really says hey, stores are closed, but shop online on Thanksgiving day. And they’re actually even offering some deals as online only deals just to further entice shoppers to shop online instead.” 

Unfortunately, however, this will likely not be enough to offset the losses from this psuedo-holiday, which typically pumps millions of dollars into the economy.

“So there’s not a lot of holiday shopping dollars to spend this year than in previous years, so we actually expect the overall dollar total to be decreased year over year", said Vincent.

Despite the grim forecast, online sales are expected to jump by up to 30%.

If you are still planning on hitting the stores on Black Friday, the best piece of advice is to be patient. There will likely be long and socially distanced lines to make sure COVID-19 guidelines are being followed.