Your thoughts on pre-Black Friday sales?

[greentea]

It seems that more and more retailers are opening their doors on Thursday evening rather than Friday. Does it really make a difference to their store sales and what are your thoughts on this development?

[kork13]

My thoughts? Black Friday is a joke and a sham.

The "discounts" that they advertise are mostly spectral -- they simply work with the manufacturers to have the retail price set exorbitantly high, then they're able to "discount" it by 40% or more to make it seem appealing, while still protecting their profit margins. Today's WSJ has a story about this practice. Ridiculous. Only a few items (their "loss leaders") are truly discounted and cut into profits, whereas the rest of everything has very little real savings. Black Friday is all about getting as many customers in the doors as possible and getting them excited about spending money.

So realistically, stores opening for Black "Friday" on Thursday evenings around 6-8pm likely WILL benefit store sales, because it's still early enough that many people are willing to go out shopping. With openings between 10pm-midnight, stores only get the die-hard shoppers. By opening early, they can potentially attract more "casual" Black Friday shoppers. Plus, it gives stores much more time to be open & selling, which again will increase overall sales.

So while the rampant consumerism makes me physically ill, it's a smart business tactic.

[Mjenn]

Personally I hate it. I think it sends a terrible message and I hate that so many people now have to go in and work on Thanksgiving. I wonder what it means for drunk driving incidents since people are hitting the road sooner after a long bout of eating and drinking. And the last thing I want to do after spending hours at the table with my extended family is spend time fighting with thousands of strangers over a flat screen TV.

But then again, unless you are giving me a car (for keeps!) to drive there, and a ton of your money to spend on myself, I would not be caught in a store on the weekend of Black Friday.

[bjl584]

The Steelers are playing just about the time that the sales start. So, I won't be shopping.

I'll be so full of turkey and alcohol by that time anyway, that there is no way I would want to be out and about.

[disneysteve]

I think it's a sad statement on our society - consumerism gone wild. The same for Black Friday itself. The whole process is designed to encourage people to overspend.

[creditcardfree]

I, too, think it is sad that the employees have to work on Thanksgiving. Can't we have ONE day where we aren't out shopping and spending? We have a local grocery store open their normal hours on Thanksgiving. The clerk I spoke with said the store is good at honoring the requests for those that want/need the day off, but there are actually quite a few people who want to work, likely because they need the money or are being paid a bonus to work. I don't plan to shop on Thursday or Friday...it all can wait.

[disneysteve]

The clerk I spoke with said the store is good at honoring the requests for those that want/need the day off, but there are actually quite a few people who want to work

I think this is really the key. If you can keep your business open with employees who are working voluntarily, I'm perfectly fine with that. I don't think people should be forced to work the holiday to keep their jobs (unless you are in a critical business like a hospital, utility company, etc.). My receptionist's 19 year old daughter works at the mall and has to be in at midnight on Thanksgiving night. Is it really a good idea to force teens (and adults) who have spent the day cleaning and cooking and celebrating with family to then get on the road and drive to their jobs and then drive home completely exhausted several hours later?

[dojo]

We don't have Thanksgiving here, but we do have stores that run the Black Friday deals. I personally ignore the entire event, we don't need anything specific, so even with discounts it would still mean we're losing money. Having the sales moved into the Thanksgiving though is pretty sad in my opinion. This holiday should be spent together with the family, not squandered by waiting in line to pick cheap items.

[hamchan]

I am working Thanksgiving. The airport never closes. I guess the concessions could theoritically be closed, but it's no big deal to me. I would rather be making holiday pay. I did have a choice about working that day. I have non family here besides my husband, and he'd prefer to watch football without me when the game will be over every ten minutes, and I would rather not have to listen to the game. I will be home in time for dinner.

[ua_guy]

To hell with Black Friday, Internet Monday, and even Thanksgiving day sales. I won't participate, and most of the sales are a fool's game anyhow. Nevermind that people become absolutely unruly on the roads and in the stores for those sorts of things. If other people enjoy them, fine, but I prefer my little corner of the world where I remain unaffected and uninterested by them.

[disneysteve]

Most of our shopping was online - Amazon and a couple of specialty sites (figment.com, cafepress.com). And today DW is at Rider University where DD just got accepted to buy her some Rider gear for gifts (t-shirts, sweatshirts, etc.). I'm trying to think if any of her gifts actually came from a store this year.

[fruitbowlk]

I thought it was fun to shop on back friday. I would get up early in the morning when the family was sleep and see what was out there. Since they start to open the stores the day before and hours before it's no longer fun for me so I won't be going but I didn't buy just to be buying and I never had issues with crazy people. I think there are plenty of people that need to work on thanksgiving or black friday to pay off debt or take care of there homes or to pay for school etc. Sometimes it a choice to work on holiday and sometimes it not either way make the best of it and make it count.

[hamchan]

I do shop online for Black Friday, but not in stores. Most of the holiday gifts I have purchased so far were online.

[Snydley]

Hi-
I look forward to shopping this weekend because a huge traveling craft fair comes to my town - over 300 vendors. Really nice, USA-made stuff at reasonable prices. I'm doing more and more of my holiday shopping at these fairs. I just can't stomach the system in place at the major companies (how they treat their workers overseas, etc).

-Jen

[isaac]

Lol I guess I'll be the oddball here. I for one love Black Friday, Pre Black Friday, Cyber Monday. The deals may not be as good as they try to make them seem but all the hype about it really motivates me to get all my holiday shopping done quickly.

I picked an "Angel" off my work's Salvation Army "Angel Tree". Little girl named Christina Age: 7. She wants a 20" Bicycle, Monster High Doll & a Doc McStuffins. I found the Monster High Doll and Doc McStuffins on Target.com's "Pre-BlackFriday Sale" so I'm 2/3 done with that. Did I get the ABSOLUTE LOWEST PRICE? I don't know, maybe, point is I'm no longer worried about finding these items and I do know I didn't pay full retail.

I also LOVE to go to the mall, grab a Pretzel and a Bench and watch the crazy people trample each other for door-busters. Very cheap entertainment. (call me morbid, idc)

As for working on Thanksgiving, my job forces me to take Weds/Thurs/Friday/Saturday off for the "holiday" I would love to have the option to work (working on a Holiday is triple-time pay). I'm not going to say that everyone that works at Walmart wants to be there, but I'm positive there are a few that NEED the hours to make ends meet.