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What to expect from Best Buy's Black Friday sale

Thanks to a wide inventory of electronics and competitive hours, Best Buy is an essential stop for Black Friday shopping. 

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Alan Diaz/AP/File
A shopper carts his purchased LED TV at a Best Buy in Miami.

Black Friday strategies are not one-store-fits-all. If you want the best savings, you need to know the stats on your favorite retailer when it comes to those day-after-Thanksgiving deals.

Luckily for you, we've put together a guide for one of the most popular places to shop on Black Friday. Read on to see what to expect from the Best Buy Black Friday ad, store hours, best deals, and more.

Will Best Buy Be Open on Thanksgiving?

In recent years, the "Black Friday creep" has been taking over and causing retailers to push back their Black Friday openings into Thanksgiving evening. Best Buy is one of the stores participating in this trend, and will likely open early for Black Friday deals.

For the last two years, Best Buy has run doorbuster deals on Thanksgiving from 5 pm until around 1 am local time.

For the last two years, it's run doorbuster deals on Thanksgiving from 5 pm until around 1 am local time at the latest. The big box is unlikely to start its sale any sooner than that, since retailers have realized that earlier hours will infringe on families' meal times, leading to a lackluster shopper turnout.

Doors Open at 8 am on Black Friday

Since Best Buy hosts its doorbusters on Thanksgiving, it's free to reopen on Black Friday at a more reasonable time (as opposed to 2 am like some retailers). Best Buy typically opens on Black Friday around 8 am, and stays open until 10 pm local time.

When Will the Ad Be Released?

It's true that Black Friday ads "leak" earlier every year. Last year, one retailer dropped its ad inOctober. However, the really high profile ads tend to be released closer to the actual shopping holiday. For a major participant like Best Buy, expect to see the ad released around the first week in November.

When to Score Deals

Black Friday week is definitely the best time to score deals at Best Buy. The three biggest days during the week for deals are Monday, which has exclusive early-access deals, Thanksgiving (which had more deals last year than Black Friday), and of course Black Friday itself. During this week, the best deals will be on items like soundbars, TVs, Blu-rays, printers, and Amazon devices. Other popular deals could include headphones, used video games, and iTunes gift cards.

Deals during Cyber Monday week will be somewhat noteworthy, but they are less consistently good. The best day to shop during this week is Cyber Monday itself. Deals on the other days are usually limited, and will taper off once Monday is done.

Last year, strong Cyber Monday deals included video games and accessories, like BOGO 50% off Nintendo 3DS games. However, most of the deals weren't likely to be at the top of anyone's holiday wish list: We saw "Snoopy's Grand Adventure" on Xbox 360/Wii U for $15, the Skylanders Trap Team starter pack for PS3 for $15, and 2 Disney Infinity figures for $7. Shoppers could also snagTransformers: Dark of the Moon on DVD, and Britney Spears's Femme Fatale album. While these were all great deals for what they were, they weren't really high-demand items.

Best Buy's Top Black Friday Deals

Best Buy is known for having great deals on home theater pieces, and last year was no exception. We saw big-name Smart TVs like LG and Samsung, plus more affordable models from Sharp and Toshiba. It was also a great time to snag Editors' Choice-worthy Denon and Libratone soundbar picks, or Logitech universal remotes from $50.

For the movie buff, Black Friday is definitely the time to stock up on Blu-rays. Last year we saw single movies priced from $4, newer releases for around $10, and some seriously affordable sets from $20. One of the most popular deals was also BOGO free select Blu-rays.

Black Friday is definitely the time to stock up on Blu-rays. Last year we saw single movies priced from $4, newer releases for around $10, and some sets from $20.

Cord-cutters are in luck, since Best Buy is definitely worth looking at for media streaming players. For the last two years, the retailer has had at least a few Editors' Choice picks on different streaming devices.

Best Buy is also a great place to shop for Amazon devices. Last year, we predicted it would be a good place to score an Amazon tablet. There were actually a handful of notable deals on Amazon products, including the 6" Kindle, the Fire TV, the Fire kids' tablet, and the Fire TV Stick. During Cyber Monday week, Best Buy also had a noteworthy deal on the Fire HD 10 tablet.

Best Buy is also a prime location for scoring basic, budget computers. Last year, we saw a variety of deals between $99 and $140.

Loyalty Gets Rewarded

Best Buy likes to reward its most loyal customers with access to members-only deals during this time. The Black Friday Early Access event is usually held the Monday before Thanksgiving, and is open to Elite and Elite Plus members.

Elite customers are those that have spent $1,500 or more on qualifying purchases at the store or the website, or in total anywhere on the My Best Buy Visa in a calendar year. Customers qualify for Elite Plus status when they spend $3,500 or more on qualifying purchases at the store or on the website, or in total anywhere on the My Best Buy Visa in a calendar year.

This article first appeared in DealNews.

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