So this year, I did my annual Black Friday shopping in Brainerd, Minnesota. It worked out well as all my usual stops have locations in the Brainerd/Baxter area and there was less people. Don't get me wrong, it was still very busy, but not insanity. The exception was Wal-Mart...still out of control, which I despise. I am going to have to admit, I used to love the thrill of a traditional Black Friday. You know, way back about three years ago when stores didn't open until like 5:00 a.m. on Friday morning. This year, the earliest stores to open where Best Buy and JCPenny, which I think opened up at 5:00 p.m. on Thanksgiving Thursday. They were followed up by Target and Kohl's opening at 6:00 p.m. on Thanksgiving Thursday. Wal-Mart had doorbuster items released at 6:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. on Thanksgiving night and again at 6:00 a.m. Friday morning. For me, it worked out okay. I went to my Thanksgiving festivities in the area for the day, and we had our traditional Thanksgiving dinner at about 2:00 p.m. We didn't rush to get done early, we just chose to eat at this time to be able to go shopping later in the evening. So by 4:00 p.m., our family was done with the Thanksgiving festivities and then we switched gears and put our focus on to shopping.
When I did go Black Friday shopping in the past, I usually just bought for myself but I have gotten better at actually buying gifts instead the last couple of years. This year I started off in line at Target at about 5:10 p.m. and the temperature was a not-so-balmy five degrees above zero. Many of the media outlets were reporting that this was the coldest Thanksgiving we have had in about 30 years. Target was and is usually a good starting point, because they usually have a great Black Friday system in place for the rush. When I arrived, I received this firecracker thing that was advertised in their ad for a select few first guests. The firecracker turned out to be a bust as the coupon was for 25% off a holiday wreath. With the store laid out as it was for the Black Friday sales, I was not interested in buying a holiday wreath at this time. In fact, it probably would've been pretty hard to actually get to the wreaths to buy one. I probably got out of Target in less than a half hour and then headed across the street to Best Buy where it had been open since 5:00 p.m. So I arrived about an hour and a half after the opening. I still got a couple of movies I was looking for and got out of that store also within about a half hour. There wasn't a mad crowd. After that, I wanted to buy a sound bar for a television I have at Wal-Mart which was releasing it at 8:00 p.m., so I had time to swing by JCPenny for a bit. JCPenny had a promotion going on where everyone who entered the store would get a coupon for $10.00 off a $10.00 or more purchase. The thing JCPenny did to make it exciting for shoppers was that 1 out of every 100 coupons was a $100.00 off a $100.00 or more purchase. My wife and I did not receive the big prize coupon, but were appreciative of the $10.00 coupons. After those were spent, I headed over to Wally World to attempt to get my hands on a Vizio sound bar that was on sale for $58.00. The thing that made the situation somewhat chaotic was the fact that all the doorbusters being released at 8:00 p.m. were all together in one area, the meat department. So, once they cut everything open and the first three rows in front of me got what they were going for, I did get my hands on one of the last sound bars available. It wasn't game over at that point because I had to get through the crowd, work my way around the aisle food coolers in the middle of the meat department aisle and head to the women's department where the checkout line started. Even though I was about 150th in line at that point, it did move fairly quickly and I got checked out and out of the store in about 45 minutes. This was by far my most successful Black Friday venture at Wal-Mart, even though people were still crazy and the scene was still somewhat chaotic. Then the night was finished. At about 9:15 p.m., I was home and the majority of Black Friday was already over.
On actual Black Friday the next morning, I hit stops at Menards, Bath and Body Works, and Papa Murphy's to capitalize on some specials and that wrapped it up. I miss getting up at 2:00 a.m. on Black Friday and heading out the door at 3:00 a.m.to get in line for a store that opened at 5:00 a.m. That is a tradition that is fading fast. It is the next step in the retail stores attempt to forget about Thanksgiving. They previously started this by putting out Christmas decorations as soon as Halloween was over. Pretty soon all Black Friday will be is an increased amount of drones flying through the air delivering packages purchase online. Don't get me wrong, I know this year had a lot of criticism about opening on Thanksgiving night, but again we need to remember that it boils down to choices. Just because they open early, doesn't mean you have to be there. You can choose to not participate. As far as feeling bad for the workers who work the madness, let's not get ahead of ourselves here. Last year, when I was at Target on Thanksgiving Night for their Black Friday events, an employee told me that every single employee working the Black Friday opening on Thanksgiving night chose to work that shift. Nobody at Target was scheduled, assigned, or forced to work. They did not have to work Thanksgiving night if they chose not to. So, I think we need to respect the business that choose to stay closed on Thanksgiving all day and night, but also not feel as bad for people who work on Thanksgiving night because it does come down to choices. This is something I and my co-workers preach to our students everyday at school.
#nobloodagainonblackfridayevents
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