I’m not saying it doesn’t happen but it is rare. You’re basing your opinion by what happens at a handful of stores. Thousands of stores around the country have lines of people waiting for the black Friday sales. There are lines of people outside virtually every electronics store in Dallas and I can’t remember the last time someone was injured much less killed by a rowdy crowd.
We’re going out for my birthday dinner that night (in Canada, thank God) - thanks for the reminder to get cash to pay for dinner, since you Murkins might crash the whole North American interac system again. :mad:
Because “a friendly crowd of people waited patiently in line at Jo-Ann Fabric until the doors opened, at which point they calmly entered the store and made their purchases” doesn’t make headlines, I guess.
No. We’re not big BF shoppers anyway, especially the early-morning hoopla, but most years we swing by the Hancock’s and Hobby Lobby at home while my parents are doing their bowling league. This year he has to work, so we’ll be leaving much later and probably won’t make it in before the stores close.
I tried doing the 6 am thing once a few years ago. Never, ever again. The crowds weren’t aggressive or rowdy or rude, but I’ve never had such an awful case of crowd claustrophobia in my life. Maybe it’s not quite so awful in bigger towns with more shopping options, but around here you’ve got your choice between Walmart, Kmart, and Penney’s for early-morning Black Friday shopping. Well, that or you can drive a couple hours to Lexington. It looked like every shopper in 4 counties was in the Walmart that morning, often in huge family groups driving trains of carts and trying not to get separated by other cart trains. You could hardly move for the crush, even without a cart.
FTR, I’m certainly not saying that there are no rude, aggressive, rowdy crowds out there. Just that in my experience it’s been more of a friendly/festive atmosphere. Maybe I’m just lucky.
Yes and no. The PS3 will be the same price, but there are some special bundle deals (allegedly) on Black Friday only. Like at Gamestop, it’s $299.99 but comes with 3 actually good games: God Of War I & II and Little Big Planet.
I would say the friendly/festive crowds are overwhelmingly the norm. I’ve seen people blatantly leave the line for hours at a time and be welcomed back at the same spot they were when they left. I’ve shared tents/food/blankets/pipes with people I’d only met a few hours before. Last year, there was a game of touch football. Now that I think of it, I might actually miss being out there.
I’ve never gone shopping on Black Friday, but I’ve always wanted to. I’m ordering most of what I need online, so I don’t really have a shopping agenda, but I want to see if it’s as bad as everyone says. Maybe this will be the year, if I can convince anyone to go with me.
If they announced the end of the world Was coming soon for certain there would be two kinds of people; those that riot and loot in order to get what little they can even though they risk serious injury or death in order to get some stuff they may enjoy for a very short time. The other type of person will stay in their homes cherishing what they already have or spend time visiting loved ones. I am in the latter group an there is no way I would go out amongst the other group that is out in full force on Black Friday.
Or in the words of Will Smith, Aw hell no!
No, I won’t be out there.
After reading about and then finding out first hand about “derivative” products I’m not in the market for downgraded products just to save a few bucks.
We were in BestBuy the other day shopping for a laptop. We decided on a Sony with a Core 2 Duo processor. It’s $649. The salesguy tells us (psst, that’s the one in Black Friday’s ad for $399, we’ve got tons of em.) So I figure to save $250 I may venture out around noon.
Till I called my BBY friend who has a copy of the ad. “No, you were looking at the VGN-NW240. It has the Core 2 Duo. The one in the ad is a VGN-NW235. It’s got the budget processor Pentium Dual Core.”
I got the VGN-NW270F (which is the same as the 240 but comes with a Blu-Ray player). I’ve had it for almost a month now and am quite happy with it. However, the longest battery life I got out of it was a little over 2 hours with a dim screen and just using word with wifi off. Not very impressed with that part.
I’m going to say I’m in the latter group, too. It sounds so much better than “I hate getting up before 7 AM, so I do it only if I have to”.
I worked BF in retail for many years, at a candy store, at a bookseller, and at a cutlery store. It was mayhem, but I really enjoyed it. At the cutlery store, the owner would bring in lunch and give us cash bonuses. Customers who, less than a month prior (start of hunting season), would not believe I had any knowledge of sharp, pointy objects suddenly hung on every word.
I did have one bad BF at the cutlery store. I dropped a knife and stabbed myself real swell in the palm of my hand. I’m cupping my blood in my hand and people were wanting me to ring them up.
I enjoy BF shopping, which is not ‘normal’ for me. I have been to the Mall of America 4 times ever, as I have major issues with crowds. But, as been posted above, there is a difference in most BF crowds. There’s a sense of comraderie, I guess you could say. A few years ago TheKid became the ‘chaser’ - the one who slipped in as quick as possible to target The Item we wanted - and she ended up helping quite a few older people who couldn’t reach past other carts and such.
However, you will never get me into a WalMart on a BF. Ever. Never. Nope. I am one of those anti-WM people anyways, but my friends wanted to go there last year. It was hell.
There is a discount mall a few miles south of St Pete that will open at midnight and a whole bunch of other stores in St Pete that will open at 4:00AM and even more that will open at 5:00AM. If they are expecting those kinds of crowds, I’ll spend the day in bed with the covers pulled up over my head. I can’t abide crowds.
Well, that too. I just thought comparing BF shopping/shoppers to end of the world rioters was better.
Nope. I’ll be at work at 7am. Thankfully, I don’t work retail.
The only time I’ve ever shopped on a Black Friday was to take advantage of a Best Buy deal on a washer-dryer combo. That was enough. The deal went smooth enough; they even rang it up at the sales desk, which meant I didn’t have to wait in the checkout lines. Having seen those lines, however, there’s no way I’d put up with them for a few bucks off some DVDs or whatever.
Yes, I consider myself fortunate that I don’t have to pinch every penny possible when looking for Christmas gifts. For those who do, good luck.
No BF shopping. I don’t like shopping all that much, don’t like malls, don’t like crowds. Not my scene.
Now that most of the BF ads are available online several days or weeks in advance, you can actually go buy the BF sale items now and then go back on BF at your convenience and get a price adjustment. That way you are guaranteed the item and you usually are waiting in line at the Customer Service desk instead of the regular register line.
Ah, Christmas, the season of our Lord the credit card…
“Oh when the saints
Come marching in
All wearing red and drinking gin
You’d better stand back mister shopper
When those saints come marching in!”
Do I celebrate Black Friday? No. Not because I think I’m striking some great blow against capitalism but because it’s not worth the trouble. Most of the stuff people are willing to stampede for will be on sale again shortly after Christmas anyway. Friends and relatives who expect you to fight a mob to grab the latest gadget for them should be stricken from your shopping list.