Holiday horror
Black Friday indeed.
My friend who works at Victoria Secret calls it "Pink Friday" because of how much revenue the store pulls in from its sales today. This means great sales for store owners, great deals for shoppers, and stress and anxiety for both.
Black Friday brought me out at 2:30 a.m. to stand in line at Best Buy for a ticket, redeemable for a rebate on a limited item set, a $100 camera and digital picture frame. But after standing outside for an hour in the cold, and going elsewhere to shop, I lost the ticket in the bustle and we were unable to claim the prize we got up so early for. I realize that this is nothing compared to some of the horror stories surrounding this two-faced Friday.
A security gaurd was fatally shot today in the robbery of a southeast Chicago Store. The owner of Get M Girlz Apparel has been robbed before, but he said he was just hoping for good numbers today, and what he got was a dead friend and ruined business. The robbers only stole clothes; they killed a man for clothes.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-storeshoot_webnov24,0,6555089.story?coll=chi_tab01_layout
THe shoppers didn't have much more luck this morning. I was in line at Best Buy and everyone I tlaked to said that they didn't receive the ticket they wanted because the store wasn't handing out one to everyone in line. So, they got at 1 am for nothing. According to the Star Tribune, lines in some stores were an hour and a half from the back to the checkout counter. Another thing that the Startrib points out is that there are no new must-have items, no new video game counsels and that because of inflation people will be buying less.
http://www.startribune.com/535/story/1568388-p2.html
THe Strib reported that Holiday sales rose 4.6 percent in 2006 and growth has averaged 4.8 percent over the last decade. And, Black Friday is only 10% of the sales for the season, only a tone-setting begining.
Either way, I was happy to be spending my day after Thanks Giving with my family in New Berlin, WI, and not working at the Mall of America for American Eagle. I visited an AE store in my hometown today and saw what havok the employees were trying to fix. Yikes...
Me, I'm just glad to take a nap, and eat some left-over turkey.
Comments
Black Friday is the best day of the year, but did you know that the Black Friday sales are available online Thanksgiving morning at Black Friday prices? Don't stand in line, shop online for 2008.
Posted by: Black Friday Shopper | December 6, 2007 4:17 PM