It may only be Thursday today but that hasn't stopped an Ashford town centre charity shop from starting its Black Friday sale.

The YMCA store in the Park Mall shopping centre has been displaying this sign in its window for the past few days to the amusement of passers-by.

The gimmick has been raising a few smiles among the build-up to Black Friday tomorrow, November 24.

That's when thousands of online and high street shoppers will go on a spending bonanza in the hunt for pre-Christmas bargains.

Black Friday has become increasingly popular in the UK in recent years.

Like many marketing and retail tools it has been introduced here from the United States.

Over there Black Friday is the informal name for the day after Thanksgiving Day (the fourth Thursday of November), which has been regarded as the beginning of the American Christmas shopping season since 1952.