Wal-Mart's Asda Cancels Black Friday as U.K. Shops Backtrack
- British retailers step away from American holiday tradition
- Last year's event ‘damaged Christmas gift spending’: analyst
Employees try to control customers as they attempt to get the last remaining LED televisions during a Black Friday discount sale at an Asda supermarket in London, on Friday, Nov. 28, 2014.
Photographer: Simon Dawson/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
No sooner had the U.K. embraced Black Friday than the American holiday shopping tradition looks to be on its way out.
Asda, the British supermarket that imported the event from U.S. parent Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in 2013, said Tuesday that it won’t participate this time around. Instead of having customers line up all night for a limited number of heavily discounted items such as flat-screen televisions, Asda plans to reduce prices by 26 million pounds ($39 million) across the season.