Best Buy Black Friday: When it starts & all the best deals

We are quickly approaching the Black Friday shopping season, and Best Buy's sales event for the big day promises to be one of the largest around. Get ready for the big event with all the info you need to know when it's happening, how it's happening, and what you can save on. You'll have every opportunity to save on electronics like the Nintendo Switch and 4K TVs, home appliances, toys, and more.

The global pandemic has changed and delayed a lot of things, and Black Friday is no exception. All retailers are expecting a whole lot more people shopping online and a whole lot fewer people shopping in person. Because of that, you can expect all of Best Buy's usual doorbusters and other in-store incentives to be transferred online to limited-time deals and things like that. I mean, Best Buy is even closing down for Thanksgiving, along with Walmart, Home Depot, and others, and waiting until the actual Friday to open up for Black Friday. What a concept.

Again, though, just because the landscape has changed don't expect it to be "less." People have been online shopping like crazy this year, and Black Friday is probably going to be bigger than ever. It's just going to be done from the comfort of your home, your couch, or your phone, instead of at a physical location. Expect Best Buy and others to spread Black Friday deals out across a much longer period of time, with deals starting much earlier in November and going much later into December, so all the orders don't bog down the system during one brief weekend.

We have all the information you need for Best Buy's Black Friday 2020 event right here, and we will continue to update this page as we find more details.

When will Best Buy's Black Friday event start?

Well, Black Friday is November 27. That doesn't mean that's when the savings will start, though. Last year Best Buy had a huge sales event the weekend before Black Friday. This year, with Prime Day and all the big sales we're seeing in October, Best Buy's going to be kicking off the deals earlier than ever. If you're looking for Black Friday savings, start on November 1. Expect to see the deals really start trickling in around that time and going through the end of the month possibly into December.

The Best Buy ad scan is going to be the first major tell with all the details about Best Buy's Black Friday event. Unfortunately the ad hasn't dropped yet, but that's because it usually doesn't drop until around early November. Since we anticipate an earlier-than-normal start this year, the ad will probably be out a bit earlier, too. Expect to see it near the end of October.

Of course, as soon as we spot it, we'll drop it in here and highlight the info you need to know about.

What are the best things to buy during Best Buy's Black Friday sale?

Of course without seeing the actual deals, we don't know exactly what's going to be on sale or what the best deals will be. However, based on our experience with Best Buy in the past and what we do know about Black Friday, we can make some pretty good educated guesses. For example, when it comes to Apple gear, Best Buy is regularly one of the best places to find actual discounts on the MacBook. Often MacBook deals at Best Buy surpass even that of Apple and Amazon.

Smart home gear is also very popular during Black Friday sales. We're going to see a lot of smart speakers and smart devices like the Amazon Echo Dot on sale. If you're looking for HomeKit compatible devices, you'll definitely be able to find smart switches, plugs, smart thermostats, and more.

We can also anticipate based on past events that Best Buy will be a great place to get savings on general products like the Instant Pot pressure cooker, DNA genetic testing kits from AncestryDNA, 23andMe, and others, unlocked smartphones, and more. Can't wait? Need deals now? Best Buy might not have its Black Friday deals ready yet, but that doesn't mean you can't save. Check out these great ways to save on tech right now if you'd rather get a head start.

Will the Best Buy Black Friday ad leak early?

Last year, Best Buy's ad scan showed up on November 7, which was three weeks earlier than Black Friday. We saw a lot of the advertised deals actually on sale much earlier than the big day, too.

This year is going to be much different. Black Friday is going to be spread out a lot more and cover a lot more ground. While we haven't seen the ad yet, we do expect to see it earlier than last year and possible as early as late October. Other retailers like Walmart have announced they are doing deals as early as November 1. If that's the case, the Black Friday ads need to come out much sooner.

Since a lot of Black Friday is going to be online thi syear, it's also a safe bet a lot of the deals will be available for a longer period of time online. Not only will this help reduce in-store foot traffic, spreading the deals out will also help keep shipping times from getting bogged down as they did earlier this year.

What are Best Buy's Black Friday hours?

Best Buy, along with many other major retailers, will be closed on Thanksgiving Day. This is partly to reward essential employees who have worked hard during the recent global pandemic and partly because Best Buy does not anticipate huge in-store crowds or a whole lot of in-store Black Friday shopping.

Chances are brick and mortar stores will open at regular hours on Black Friday and then do extended hours throughout the weekend and into Cyber Monday. We will know more when Best Buy releases its Black Friday ad. We'll post the hours right here when we find out exactly what they are, but I would anticipate the best deals to be online. Get ready for Black Friday shopping from home.

Does Best Buy price match during Black Friday?

One reason we like to highlight all the different individual retailers is because a lot of the times many of the deals are very much the same. That means if you spot a deal in one place but it's sold out, you might be able to find it at Best Buy or some other retailer. What that also means is usually the retailers try to match each other on price.

Best Buy actually has regular price matching throughout the year and is usually pretty good about honoring it as long as the store is in a 25-mile radius or online. However, the retailer often blacks out the price matching policy during the holiday shopping season. Generally you won't have to worry about it as Best Buy's prices get pretty dang low, but if we hear of any change to this policy this year we'll mention it here.

Let Thrifter help you

Black Friday is going to be a little different this year which means it might be harder than usual to know how to maximize your savings during the event. The team over at Thrifter is full of professional deal hunters who will literally be providing around the clock coverage of everything on Amazon Prime Day, Black Friday and Cyber Monday. From the best savings as they hit to roundups of what you should be buying, the team will aim to make it as easy as possible to find the best deals that are available from the first to the last minute.

Give them a follow on Twitter to keep up-to-date on all the best deals as they happen in real-time.