Black Friday

[Jazzy]

Black Friday is the day following Thanksgiving Day in the United States, traditionally the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. On this day, most major retailers open extremely early and offer promotional sales to kick off the holiday shopping season, similar to Boxing Day sales in many Commonwealth Nations. Black Friday is not an official holiday, but many non-retail employers also observe this day as a holiday along with Thanksgiving, giving their employees the day off, thereby increasing the number of potential shoppers. It has routinely been the busiest shopping day of the year since 2005.



Questions:



Where any of you brave enough and went out shopping?



If so, what deals did you get?



Did any of you have to work that day in a big box store?



If so, how busy was it?

 

[TommyTooter]

more questions:



1. are you familiar with the call for boycott against walmart and strikes by it's employees?

- a. did you shop there anyway?

- b. if not, do you encourage others not to shop there too?



2. did you purchase any gifts from local merchants and micromerchant crafters at flea markets, street fairs and music festivals or online at sites like ebay and etsy?



a. if not yet, would you please do some later? every penny you spend the big box stores is harming our economy. FACT: walmart employees are the largest single demographic recipients of social services. they are not getting paid enough to support themselves without government assistance.

b. when you buy from walmart you are buying mass produce merch from china, often assembled by slave labor (apple stands accused of using such plants). buy from local craftspeople and the money stays onshore and the product was individually crafted with love.

 

[Flurry]

I went to my favorite store known as Hastings. They had a Black Friday sale going on from 8 am to 12 pm. Although the night before I spent about 13 bucks on a little comic collection trade from one of my favorite Indy Publishers. At Hastings I picked up Quiet Riot's Metal Health, ICP's Riddle Box, Weird Al Yankovic's Bad Hair Day, Cypress Hill's Super Hits, and Lamb of God's Burn The Priest. 2.99 for each. Also picked up this Spider-Man vs. Silver Sable trade for 2.99.

 

[DrLeftover]

My wife worked at the store yesterday at 6 AM (when they opened).



She said the people were insane most of the day.



I was going to stop by at 9 when I got done at my work, but outside the mall the traffic was horrendous, with people trying to get into the mall blocking cross traffic on the highway. I turned around and went home.

 

[Jazzy]

By Thanksgiving evening, the Canadians had arrived in their RV's. The parking lots in both malls, looked more like campsites. There were also people camped in front of the stores in lounge chairs. There is no way in heck I would go near any of those malls. There was not a parking spot to be found by 5 am on Friday morning (according to my friend). State Police were called in because of the heavy traffic and people were also fighting in the parking lots.



To answer TommyTooter:



I do not and will not patronized Walmart.



As often as possible, I buy items from our local merchants here in town. We have a lot of local artists and and their work is simply beautiful. As a matter of fact, every painting in my home was purchased locally.



When in season, I buy all my produce from the Farm Market.

 

[Nebulous]

I went to the mall because I seen an ad for a $97 TV that I wanted.. They were already sold out by the time I got there. The mall was crazy packed... Nowhere to park & if they did have the TV I wanted, I would have had to wait in line for hours just to buy it.

 

[Jazzy]

I went to the mall because I seen an ad for a $97 TV that I wanted.. They were already sold out by the time I got there. The mall was crazy packed... Nowhere to park & if they did have the TV I wanted, I would have had to wait in line for hours just to buy it.

Couldn't you have ordered it online?

 

[TommyTooter]

By Thanksgiving evening, the Canadians had arrived in their RV's. The parking lots in both malls, looked more like campsites. There were also people camped in front of the stores in lounge chairs. There is no way in heck I would go near any of those malls. There was not a parking spot to be found by 5 am on Friday morning (according to my friend). State Police were called in because of the heavy traffic and people were also fighting in the parking lots.



To answer TommyTooter:



I do not and will not patronized Walmart.



As often as possible, I buy items from our local merchants here in town. We have a lot of local artists and and their work is simply beautiful. As a matter of fact, every painting in my home was purchased locally.



When in season, I buy all my produce from the Farm Market.

aren't you in britain? is walmart established there?

 

[Jazzy]

aren't you in britain? is walmart established there?

I live in the United States not Britain.

 

[Bluezone777]

I went down long after the crowds left and there was plenty of stuff still for sale from the blitz. I picked up a few movies and that's about it. I went down once during it for a TV and my experience was that it wasn't worth the hassle.



With the way it seems to go, they should rename it Black and Blue Friday for the way some people look as they leave the stores. Some people really take the event way too seriously. I mean what sane person pulls out either guns or fists over a TV or other piece of electronic equipment that you could get at anytime?

 

[Raven]

If it's the busiest day of the year for shopping I would NOT go out!