Across the country people are gearing up for one of the most intense shopping experiences of the year.

Black Friday, originally an American craze, comes on the Friday after the fourth Thursday of November, the traditional date of Thanksgiving.

Many will do their Christmas shopping around that time with tens of thousands of offers being put on by retailers to try and snap up that crucial Christmas custom.

Here’s what you need to know about Black Friday in Ipswich.

When is it? Black Friday itself is on November 25 this year – a week today. However some places, mostly online stores, will have started earlier to try make the most of shoppers’ with early onset Christmas spirit.

For example Amazon’s Black Friday sales actually started on Monday (November 14) and runs through until 11.59pm on November 25, and Debenhams will be ready to go on November 21.

Is it an online only thing? Not at all. Plenty of stores on the high street get involved with Black Friday as well.

In fact the Friday is probably more of a high street thing following the more recent advent of Cyber Monday – a marketing term dreamt up to get people shopping online the Monday after with lots of deals stretched to cover that date.

Sainsbury’s, for example, only offer in-store details on Black Friday.

Just how big is Black Friday? Don’t underestimate it. Some years have seen websites crash under the weight of traffic from expectant shoppers and people clashing over the latest must-have items in stores as they battle to be the first through the doors.

Two years ago £810million was spent in the UK on the day itself – but that was eclipsed by last year’s whopping £1.1billion spend.

Do all retailers take part? Nope. Asda famously announced last year it wasn’t getting involved then and is staying well out of it all again in 2016.

Next and IKEA are also giving Black Friday a miss and, unsurprisingly, Apple isn’t really a fan. However, though many places might not specifically mention Black Friday in their stores or online, they will probably still offer some discounts.

What if I don’t want to get involved? I’d recommend you steer clear of high streets and retail websites on that day then. You’ve obviously got plenty of time to do your Christmas shopping between then and the big day; just remember the last recommended posting day for Royal Mail first class delivery is December 21, and plenty of stores will have their own latest ‘delivery-in-time-for-Christmas’ dates as well.

Where can I pick up the deals in Ipswich? Well, if you can find a town that has absolutely no Black Friday deals, you’ve done fairly well. However, here’s a short and by no means exhaustive list of the sort of shops which will be vying for your purchasing attention next Friday (and possibly before. And after. Check out their sites for full details).

Ipswich: Sailmakers shopping centre, Debenhams, Jack Wills, H&M, Game, Burton, Topshop, Marks and Spencer, Argos.