Today was Black Friday, and it seemed like everyone who had been hibernating these past few months because of rising gas prices and declining home values, jammed malls and stores for pre-dawn discounts to officially affirm the start of Christmas shopping. Actually, I would have to argue that Christmas shopping began the day after Halloween. I remember going to the mall during the first week of November, only to find Christmas decorations placed everywhere. I recall asking myself whether anybody still celebrated Thanksgiving, or if the retail business simply skipped over it in an effort to prematurely begin their most lucrative and profitable holiday. People literally camped out at stores that boasted huge discounts on electronic gadgets. My sister arrived at Circuit City at five o’clock this morning, hunting for a good deal on a laptop, and apparently that wasn’t early enough. She told me that there were sixty people lined up in front of the entrance, and that the first twenty shoppers were given tickets which gave them the option of purchasing a Sony Vaio laptop, carrying case, and printer for only $300.00. That is quite obviously an amazing deal, but I wouldn’t dream of spending the night in front of a store in 50 degree weather just to save some money.
I went to the mall at ten o’clock, and found a parking spot around eleven. As I predicted last night, the place was a zoo, with holiday shoppers crowding every store, trying to knock out their rivals with their massive shopping bags. My sister complained that she must have been hit in the face by a shopping bag at least twelve times. While some of the stores in the mall had some good deals, all in all, the savings were few. Nevertheless, there was an increase in the turnout of shoppers. I think the tougher economic conditions, characteristic of this past year, are driving more shoppers to take advantage of Black Friday sales.
Photo Credit: http://graphics.boston.com/bonzai-fba/AP_Photo/2006/11/24/1164377813_0122.jpg
