Target Black Friday Predictions 2026: When It Starts and What Will Be on Sale

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Black Friday is still weeks away, but Target shoppers are already wondering when the sale starts and what will be discounted. Here’s what we expect for 2026, based on what we saw last year and Slickdeals shopping data.

When Will Target’s Black Friday 2026 Sale Start Online?

Target’s 2025 Black Friday sale ran Sunday, Nov. 23 through Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025, with additional deals added Nov. 27–29. Black Friday 2026 falls on Friday, Nov. 27. Based on Target’s pattern of opening its Black Friday event the Sunday before Thanksgiving week, we predict the 2026 online sale will begin around Sunday, Nov. 22, 2026, with additional deals rolling out through Nov. 26–28. This is a prediction, not a confirmed date. We’ll update this section the moment Target’s ad is public.

Will Target Be Open on Thanksgiving, and What Time Do Stores Open on Black Friday?

In 2025, Target stores opened at 6 a.m. local time on Friday, Nov. 28. We expect Target to again stay closed on Thanksgiving Day and open at 6 a.m. local time on Black Friday, Nov. 27, 2026, though store hours can vary by location.

Target’s Best Black Friday 2025 Deals (Recap)

We looked at all deals posted on Slickdeals last November and sorted them by deal score to see which deals the community liked the most. The results were actually a bit surprising. Gift cards were by far the most popular Black Friday deal type at Target with three of the top four highest-voted deals being gift card promotions.

• 10% off all Target gift cards (max $50 savings, up to $500 per transaction, Target Circle members only), valid Dec. 6–7, 2025. 565 votes. View thread
• $100 Apple eGift Card + $15 Target promo eGift card (effectively 13% off), valid Nov. 23–29, 2025. 267 votes. View thread
• Select $100 gift cards (Apple, Disney, Nintendo, PlayStation, Xbox & more) plus a $10 Target eGift Card bonus, valid Nov. 16–22, 2025. 176 votes. View thread

The rest of the top 10:

Just How Big Was Target’s Black Friday? The Numbers Behind the Deals

The top 10 only tells part of the story. Target shoppers didn’t wait for the calendar to say Black Friday before they started posting: Slickdeals tracked 391 separate Target deal threads across November 2025 alone. The community was equally quick to sort the real deals from the noise. 55 of those threads cleared a +30 deal score, 32 broke +50, and a dozen climbed into triple digits, the kind of score that only happens when a deal gets shared, argued over, and bookmarked by hundreds of people in the same week. If Target’s 2026 event draws anywhere near that kind of volume, shoppers who wait for the official ad to start looking will already be behind.

Two brands did most of the heavy lifting. Apple was everywhere: AirPods, iPads, and Apple-branded gift cards spanned 19 separate threads and pulled in more combined community votes than any other brand on the board, led by the $100 Apple Gift Card bundle above. LEGO won on sheer volume instead, with shoppers posting 45 different LEGO deals over the course of the month, more threads than any other single brand, running from the Darth Vader Helmet Set in our top 10 down to a $153.99 blowout on the 2,025-piece Willy Wonka set. Xbox and Nintendo weren’t far behind, each anchoring double-digit threads built around controllers, gift cards, and first-party games, and a handful of PlayStation 5 game deals (God of War Ragnarök, Split Fiction) rounded out the gaming category. Expect this same cluster, Apple, LEGO, and the console makers, to define the conversation again in 2026.

The comments made clear that shoppers weren’t just chasing the biggest percentage off, they were doing the math out loud to see whether a deal actually paid off. On the 10%-off gift card promo, rabbz walked through the tradeoff in real time: “it is like 12% off (figuring 2% cb on the credit card I use) vs. the usual 5% only with the red card. But I guess savings is savings.” Others worked out the exact mechanics needed to stack a deal: on the AirPods 4 w/ ANC deal, HenryHHD spelled out how to actually trigger the Cash App discount: “Took me a while to get the deal. Can’t do that on Target app or $app built in browser. Activate deal on $app then go to target.com browser and check out there via Pay now w/ $app. Target app doesn’t have $app as payment option.” On the Xbox controller thread, UniqueNewYork summed up the appeal of a deal too good to pass up even without a real need for it: “don’t need it, but at this price I bought the red for a backup.” That’s the pattern worth watching for heading into 2026: Target shoppers show up for the products, but they stick around, comment, and vote up the deals where the math clearly works in their favor.

What We Expect on Sale at Target in 2026 (Predictions)

These are forecasts, not confirmed deals. We’ll swap this section out entirely once Target’s ad is public.

• Gift card stacking: gift-card-plus-bonus-eGift-card offers were Target’s single best-performing Black Friday deal type in 2025, three of the top four by vote. Expect Target to repeat or expand this format and use it to your advantage to make other Black Friday deals even better.
• Apple AirPods and accessories: two different AirPods 4 deals cracked the top six by vote in 2025. Expect Target to again discount AirPods and similar Apple accessories deeply.
• Target Circle coupon stacking on small household items: last year’s near-free Crest toothpaste deal (a $5 Circle coupon against a sub-$6 item) shows shoppers respond strongly to stackable coupons on everyday staples. Expect similar “near-free with a coupon” deals on household or personal-care items.
• Console accessories and first-party game bundles: an Xbox controller and a batch of Nintendo Switch games both made the top 10. We expect similar deals in the video games category in 2026.
• Third-party checkout cashback: Cash App’s 20%-back promotion on Target purchases placed in the top 10. We might not see another Cash App offer this year, but a cash back offer in general feels likely.
• Broader sitewide framing: Target’s own release additionally pointed to up to 50% off across tech, toys, and home categories sitewide, which is a reasonable floor for 2026 even without Slickdeals data yet to confirm it.

How to Get the Best Deal at Target This Black Friday

• Set a deal alert now so you’re notified the moment Target’s ad and individual deals post.
• Keep checking Slickdeals for the launch of our new Black Friday hub that will make browsing and searching for specific things a bit easier than in the past. More to come!
• Check Target’s price match guarantee window before buying anything early.
• Target Circle members typically get first access to select deals, so it’s worth joining before the sale starts.

Why Check Slickdeals

Every price on this page is checked against a real deal thread or the retailer’s own listing, and we update this page as soon as Target’s ad and deals are confirmed, so you’re never shopping off a stale prediction.