Black Friday: What and where are the best deals in Ireland?

With the arrival on these shores of the seriously over-hyped Black Friday shopping extravaganza, it might be time to take note of the wide array of bargains available in Irish shops.

Even though Black Friday in Ireland is barely a year old, retailers around the country have cut prices and come up with attractive bargains for today and the coming weekend. While customers in the US can avail of a full day of shopping after their Thanksgiving celebrations, with most Americans off work on Friday, Irish shoppers will most likely be making a mad dash for the sales at lunchtime and after 5pm.

As a means of helping you avoid those huge queues leading to the inevitable crush of humans down the shopping aisles, we’ve put together a list of some of the best offers available over the weekend.

SMYTHS TOYS SUPERSTORES
The store kicked off its Black Friday sale earlier this week, offering customers 20 per cent savings on all Lego City products, 3 for 2 on Crayola products and reductions on selected Frozen, Fisher-Price and Nerf items. The offers will run until Tuesday, December 1st.

CURRYS PC WORLD
A 10-day black tag event is underway with up to 50 per cent savings on brands including Bosch, Samsung and Sony. Currys released a fresh set deals online at 6am.

MARKS AND SPENCERS
Marks and Spencers is offering a discount of 25 per cent for six bottles of wine or champagne, half price on ranges of Christmas cards and crackers and 20-50 per cent of all other stock.

DEBENHAMS
The store cut prices by half on Friday on all cookware and electrical items with significant savings on blenders, Nespresso machines and juicers. They are also offering half price discounts on all designer knitwear and designer jeans. Discounts will only be available in-store on Black Friday and online from 3am-11.59pm.

HARVEY NORMAN
With stores in Antrim, Cork, Down, Dublin, Kerry, Kildare, Limerick, Louth, Mayo and Waterford, the store is offering to "match competitors' prices". It's fully embedded with the Black Friday madness, offering such deals as tvs (up to 40% off), laptops (25%) and sofas (40%).

LIDL
The discount supermarket Black Friday offers include a Canon PowerShot SX530 HS camera and case for €299.99, a Samsung 32" TV for €269.99 and a Toshiba 11.6" laptop for €199.99.

ARGOS
The retailer launched their Red, White and Blue Fridays earlier this month ahead of the Black Friday rush with deals including 3 for 2 on all toys and savings of 20 per cent when you spend €100 or more on indoor furniture and homeware. Argos are offering half price savings on electronics over the Black Friday weekend.

LIFESTYLE SPORTS
The sports store are offering 15 per cent off everything in-store and online from Friday to Monday. Customers can avoid queues by buying online or by using the iPad ordering service.

TESCO
They are holding a five-day sale, which went live online from midnight on Thursday.

TOPSHOP
The clothes store is offering up to 50 per cent off on clothes and shoes over the Black Friday weekend.

LITTLEWOODS
The shop is advertising 20 per cent of Adidas clothing and footwear, and up to 50 per cent off selected boots and runners. Some knitwear is also half-price.

AMAZON
Amazon UK is promising to update the site with new deals every 10 minutes as part of the Black Friday sales.

DID ELECTRICAL
DID are onboard for Black Friday, offering "earth-shattering exclusive offers" with, well, their "Little Red Men". You'll just have to log on, or visit a store to figure out what it's all about. There's up to 50% of some appliances and up to €500 off televisions. They are also giving customers who spend at least €200 in-store or online a €25 gift voucher.

RYANAIR
The Irish airline is offering €2 one-way flights to several destinations in Europe, including Dublin-London, Dublin-Brussels, Dublin-Paris, Derry-Liverpool, Cork-London, Kerry-Frankfurt, Knock-London, Shannon-Manchester and Shannon-Paris.

AER LINGUS
Aer Lingus are offering deals to North America, with €50 off round-trips to destinations such as Boston and New York from Dublin and Shannon. The travel period is from January 6th, 2016 to April 30th.