Holiday Shopping

[dejolane]

Do you like to do the black Friday thing or just shop whenever you can ? Getting up at 4am isn't my thing just to go and freeze in the cold morning.

Is it really worth it  for you to get the best buys that early ?

 

[jcat]

We don't have Black Friday here in Europe, but even when I lived in the U.S. I avoided stores like the plague that day. I hate shopping at the best of times, and the pushing and shoving crowds on Black Friday are too much to bear. We do have Cyber Monday on this side of the Pond.

 

[mamabirdy]

What is Black Friday please? I'm in the UK and never heard of it.

 

[dejolane]

What is Black Friday please? I'm in the UK and never heard of it.

Black Friday is where people get up  at 3-4am the day after Thanksgiving and stand outside in the cold to get the best deals for Christmas.

 

[jcat]

Thanksgiving is the fourth Thursday in November in the U.S. and supposedly goes back to a harvest celebration in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1621. Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, is the traditional start of the Christmas shopping season, and there are loads of great sales that day. It's reportedly called "Black Friday" because it's the day retailers are "in the black" (start making profits), though there are other explanations, e.g., that streets were "black" with pedestrian and vehicular traffic.

 

[blueyedgirl5946]

More than ten years ago, I went shopping on that day. l was in a car accident and that cured me of ever shopping on Friday after Thanksgiving.

 

[raintyger]

I've tried once or twice, lured by Black Friday featured item pricing. But I'm always discouraged by the crowds and general zoo atmosphere. I will go to Costco, which advertises some specials which are lower than their low already prices, but not ridiculously low like Walmart. But their Black Friday stock tends to last until about mid-morning to afternoon on Sat., so the crowd isn't nearly as bad and you don't have to get up at 3 a.m. I'll also do the electronic version at Amazon.

 

[mamabirdy]

Thank you everyone for explaining what Black Friday is. Here in the UK we have what we call the January sales but they usually start on Dec 26th when people go mad and queue up at certain shops at ridiculous times of the morning to get bargains. My hubby is in security at our local shopping centre ( those in the US would call it a mall) and there is a Next shop that always opens at 5am and the queues for there are out of the centre. I work for a major retailler here in the UK called BHS ( also known as British Home Stores ) and thankfully we don't open that early, but I hate having to go in and work on Boxing Day. Here in the Uk most department stores and supermarkets and high street shops now only close on Christmas Day and Easter Sunday, I wish that retaillers would go back to the days when they shut at 12 noon on Christmas Eve and didn't open until the morning of the 28th Dec. But because some people thought they could make extra money on these days, they decide to open. And now it's unusually for a store not to be open. My hubby sometimes has to work on Christmas Day and has even had to deal with people coming upto the centre on Christmas Day wanting to do some shopping and to exchange unwanted presents. These are usually people who are not Christians and don't celebrate Christmas, he's even had some who get quite abusive because the centre isn't open.

 

[Winchester]

We do it, primarily for the grandchildren. We have the list for the kids, we check the newspaper ads on Thanksgiving night and head out around 4:00 or so Friday morning. We get what we came for (most of the time), stop for breakfast, and go back home to bed, although the other year, we were out until around 10:00 or so Friday night. Most of the time, we're home fairly early.

The worst part is waiting in line at the check-out. Bon-Ton, especially, is known for not having enough check-out clerks and the line snakes around the store. It's ridiculous and we've stopped shopping there because it's just not worth that line. Our Kohl's is another store with not enough check-outs; we don't even go inside the store on Black Friday.

I think Rick enjoys it more than I do. The people make me crazy after a while. Nothing bothers him.

I tend to take advantage of Cyber Monday, too, sometimes.

 

[catsallaround]

I only do Petsmart on Black Friday  The crowds and so many with lack of sleep(stores are starting earlier and earlier every year Walmart does something Thursday night so you have people who got up early Thursday to pop turkey in and cook/clean/entertain that are still up and driving Friday am.

Petsmart is in Target plaza and it is insane enough getting parking spot.  I am looking forward to this year as expect it to be one of the best money wise we have more then did last few years. 

 

[kookycats]

Never shopped on black Friday -- and never intend to do so. I LOVE shopping, but would avoid black Friday like the black plague!!! It's just not worth it.