More St Helier shops than ever are taking part in the annual event, which takes place the day after American Thanksgiving and sees consumers around the world spending billions both online and on the high street.
On Friday, nearly two dozen stores will be offering Black Friday deals, with many increasing their staff numbers in an effort to man the tills over an extended period.
In what is likely to be a Jersey opening-hours record, BHS will be selling cut-price goods, including televisions brought in specially for the event, from 6 am to midnight.
UK chains Boots, Top Shop and Burton will all be open for several hours longer than normal, with the latter doubling its number of staff for the day.
Meanwhile, locally owned clothes shop Roulette is offering deals of up to 75 per cent off and is giving away £1,000 worth of in-store credit to one competition winner.
Shoppers will also be out in force tonight for the first late-shopping event and the switching on of St Helier’s Christmas lights.
Mark Cox, the chairman of the retail and supply committee at the Chamber of Commerce, said it was impossible to know how much would be spent on Black Friday deals in Jersey and added: ‘Black Friday is really growing in popularity and this year there are more shops than ever offering reductions.
‘There will be a lot of bargains, so it’s very good for consumers.’
Speaking to the JEP about BHS’s decision to operate an 18-hour business day, store manager Alex Harding, said: ‘Last year Black Friday took us all by surprise by how successful it was.
‘This year we are taking it to another level.
‘It is going to be by far the biggest Black Friday that Jersey has ever seen – we have got hundreds of deals in the store and I know a number of other shops are doing the same.’
In previous years, Black Friday has gained notoriety for the behaviour of UK and US customers, who have resorted to violence in order to ensure they snared the best deals.
However, Mr Harding says the shop is not worried and no extra security is in place.
‘I am sure that we won’t see any untoward behaviour.
‘I think we have people with a bit more decorum and there won’t be anywhere near the same level of chaos that we have heard about coming from other places.’
But one St Helier business, The Powerhouse, which sells electrical goods, has decided to extend the usual one-day sale to a ten-day period to prevent the shop from becoming overcrowded.
Gavin Murphy, the sales manager at The Powerhouse, said: ‘We hadn’t done Black Friday in previous years as it was a bit of an unknown, but because it has grown so much, as a big shop it has become an expectation that we will be taking part.
‘We thought it would be good to extend our offers into a Black Friday week so it might not be just one crazy day.’
Black Friday was originally an American tradition only, discounted goods followed their national holiday Thanksgiving.
However, the use of ‘black’ used to refer to the stock markets in America but was first applied to the day after Thanksgiving in Philadelphia.
Police in the American states were annoyed by the scenes of panic the reduced prices caused and began to refer to the day as Black Friday. The name stuck, despite its negative connotations and attempts to re-brand the day as Big Friday.
No longer exclusive to America, it has has become an international event dubbed the biggest shopping day of the year.
Equally, it is no longer confined to Friday with many stores offering discount over an extended period.
