Buses won't be motoring to Montana to take shoppers to Black Friday sales, but one company holding its own American-style sale in Calgary says local retailers are embracing the sales event.

The day after American Thanksgiving is the traditional start of the Christmas shopping season in the U.S. and many Canadians make their way south every year to take advantage of the sales.

Steve Bacovski, the owner of Calgary-based National Motor Coach, said he has taken busloads of shoppers across the border in previous years, but shoppers are passing on the trip this year, in part because of the lower value of the loonie.

"We are not getting no bookings. Nobody is going south to do cross-border shopping in buses, anyways," he said.

But while it's bad for the charter bus business, Bacovski said it might be good news for Calgary retailers who have adopted Black Friday sales of their own.

Chris Shepherd is a vice-president of marketing at Computer Trends, a Calgary retailer that is holding a Black Friday sale.

"Typically in retail a lot of shoppers say, 'Hey, I am going to have to wait until Boxing Day to get the real deals.' But with us, with Black Friday, you get the best deals of the year, starting right now."

Shepherd, who hopes to do an entire week's worth of sales in one day, said holding a Black Friday sale is a way to get customers through the door during an economic downturn.

"A lot of retailers are really concerned, so I think they are saying … we need to start discounting early fast and give the deals so we are ahead of the game."

Despite Shepherd's concerns, Statistics Canada reported Tuesday that retail sales in Alberta were up 1.3 per cent from August, slightly higher than the national average of 1.1 per cent. But a spokesperson for the agency said it was too early to predict whether Canadians will continue to spend through the Christmas season.