Over the past 7 years, Black Friday has been the busiest day in the US retail shopping calendar. It represents the last chance for retailers to flush out older lines – ahead of the new stock for Xmas rolling into the stores and onto the shelves. More recently, companies that operate across borders have also begun to have Black Friday events in the UK. Now, it seems, the Brits are joining in. Starting with Aria. KitGuru dons a safety suit and heads into the milling crowds.

Originally coined by the fine people of Philadelphia in the 1950s, because it became impossible to drive/park in the centre of the city, most of the US started to call the post-Thanksgiving sales Black Friday in the 70s and – as part of evolution – decided that Black Friday meant it was the time of year when retailers were guaranteed to turn a profit – to gain cashflow – and return ‘to the black' in accounting terms.

In the US, retailers have rolled opening times for Black Friday earlier and earlier – so that Best Buy and Target now begin at one minute past midnight. Interesting, because spies outside Aria's northern HQ report that the sales, marketing and purchasing teams were still ‘at it' with the discounts to 3 in the morning.

OK, enough of the history lesson, what does a Black Friday sale look like at UK technology house Aria?

Well, move over to Aria's CLEARANCE page and you will see this kind of thing:-

Multi-channel speakers for £12.95

256GB Crucial SSD for £119

Zalman gaming chassis for £22

Acer 22″ HD screen for £77

AMD Radeon HD 7770 with FarCry 3/Medal of Honour games bundle for £77

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So, there you have it, some pre-Xmas specials that look likely to tickle your delight and make your double-dip-recession savings go that little bit further.

KitGuru says: Black Friday is the kind of ‘non-trans-fat' thing we don't mind importing from the USA. As long as it gives UK retailers a chance to stock up on more fast-moving items for December/January, then it has to be a good thing.

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