Black Friday is a highly anticipated shopping day where shoppers aim to get significant discounts and low prices for more expensive items. As you can expect, these discounts attract thick crowds of people, creating busy stores and frustratingly long queues – all leading to a terrible shopping experience.

Here are some tips for surviving Black Friday at Canal Walk:


1. Know What You Want Before Coming to Canal Walk

Knowing what you want to buy before you come to Canal Walk is essential. If you fail to plan, there’s a good chance you’ll spend most of your time navigating through crowds of shoppers. We suggest you find out as much as possible about the discounts that each retailer will offer so that you know exactly where you need to be. We’ve even struggled to find out everything that will be on offer because all of our retailers want to keep it a secret, so make sure you keep an eye on your inbox because we’ll send you the low down as soon as we know.

If you aren’t sure about what you want to buy, don’t leave your window shopping to be done on Black Friday! Instead, visit Canal Walk during the week leading up to Black Friday to see what your favourite retailers are selling and hope they discount those products heavily on the day.

2. Write A List Of Everything That You Want To Buy

We all get caught up in the moment every now and then – don’t let Black Friday be one of those moments! Write a list of everything you want to buy on the day and use it as your shopping bible. Whether looking for gifts for friends and family or something for yourself, write it on a list to avoid duplicating facilities or visiting unnecessary retail stores. Also, use the information you gathered in the previous step to help you know which routes to take in the mall. This is our next tip.

3. Know Your Way Around The Mall

Now that you know what products you want to buy and what retailers you want to visit, you have to plan your shopping attack with military precision. Get a map of the mall and print it. Some shopping malls are utilizing indoor maps in grocery stores and other establishments to provide shoppers with dynamic and up-to-date maps that allow them to find the stores they’re looking for via the fastest, most efficient route possible. 

Mapped is an example of mall mapping software commonly used in shopping malls. Go through the shopping list that you have created and mark every shop that you plan to visit on Black Friday with a pen or pencil. You can see which sections of the mall you’ll spend most of your time in as soon as you've finished doing this. Draw the quickest route on the map and create a list of each store in the order of the route to avoid going up and down any part of the mall.

4. Plan Your Parking

Just as important as knowing your shopping route in the mall, it is also a good idea to plan where you park. Although Canal Walk has loads of parking available, some entrances become congested, and the last thing you want after a hard day of shopping is to have to deal with grumpy drivers. We suggest you plan where you park according to the shops you will visit. But, in addition to this, you may want to consider parking in areas that are not as frequently used by shoppers coming to Canal Walk, such as the mezzanine level.


5. Plan Breaks and Keep Up Your Energy

Let’s face it – you will be standing in queues and manoeuvring through crowds for a few hours. There’s nothing more important than staying hydrated and keeping up your energy levels. Make sure you take lots of water and energy drinks with you and plan to have regular breaks. Perhaps a good lunch or early dinner at some of Canal Walk’s eateries can help ease your mind from a stressful shop and motivate you to become the ultimate shopper again.