Black Friday is known around the world as a huge day of shopping. Expectations of massive discounts is why people wait all year for this one Friday in November to do their shopping for both Christmas and the rest of the year. And now having been here in New York for Black Friday, I have to say it was pretty good.

I found some great deals. Stores like Old Navy had 50% off store wide.

Black Friday Old Navy

I found a clothing store I’d never heard of that also had 50% off all items including those already discounted. I was able to buy one top for $12 and another for $3, perfect for the budget conscious traveler who never buys new clothes.

But the great thing about Black Friday here in Manhattan was that it wasn’t completely crazy. There are always people in the shops here no matter the time of year. I just noticed on Friday that almost everyone was carrying shopping bags. Some stores were crazier than others, and strangely enough it was the ones that weren’t offering large discounts that were the busiest.

Victoria's Secret Black Friday

Victoria’s Secret for example was absolutely one of the busiest stores I visited. However the only sale offered was buy one bra, get a second half price. Then if you spent over $75 you received a free tote bag. Big deal. With the amount of people in the store I thought they must have been giving underwear away. I was extremely disappointed to discover that everyone was just buying at regular prices and waiting in a checkout line that was at least 100 people long.

Victoria's Secret Sale

Macy’s was another store that had many shoppers, but a limited amount of people buying.

Macy's Shoppers

The world’s largest department store had sales here and there on selected items, offering 15 – 20% discount but nothing that seemed to interest the majority of buyers who were walking through just to look.

Macy's Sales

I’m happy I was here for Black Friday. I bought myself a couple of things at a discounted price both on Friday and during the week leading up to it as many stores started their sales at the beginning of the week.

Anyone thinking of timing their USA trip to coincide with Thanksgiving and Black Friday I say do it, get involved in these American holidays if for nothing more than to indulge in the local culture. However if you’re trip dates mean you can’t be here for a day of crazy sales, don’t worry too much, this is the USA and stores have sales constantly. Plus you can always find a great deal on cyber Monday.