Crazy Black Friday Weekend

Saying it was crazy is an understatement. Last year it was a 6am start time. This year it was 5am. Next year it will probably be even earlier. And in a few years I am pretty sure that all stores will just be open for 48 straight hours starting ON Thanksgiving day and continuing till midnight Friday.

As in past years my wife and I got up super early to try to get some of our holiday shopping out of the way. And just like EVERY YEAR in the past BY 7AM we swore that this would be the absolute last year we are part of this madness.

There were over 500 freezing people lined up Friday morning before 6am at the Walmart by our house. We saw that many or more outside the Tiger Direct computer store where they were letting one person in at a time and only after one person had left. At the two malls we went to there were so many people that just walking around was almost impossible. I could not take it. By 9am I literally ran out of the mall in a complete sweat and unable to breath. Every store was so packed that not only could you not get any help if needed, but check out lines were so long that you had to wait over 20 minutes just TO LEAVE.

The parking lot at the mall was another nightmare all together. After escaping the claustrophobic walls inside the mall it ended up taking almost 35 minutes just to LEAVE the mall parking lot to head elsewhere. So many cars where trying to leave and come in at the same time that everyone was stuck. After a half hour of honking horns and people yelling at each other I was ready to scream.

But I guess the chaos was good for our economy as the article below states. Estimates for Black Friday sales are around 10.6 BILLION dollars. This is up from past years. I think we can thank the falling price of gas the past few weeks for much of this since people felt a little more money in their wallets. Also, with traveling so expensive I think many more people just stayed home this year like we did, so going shopping locally became the thing to do. When you travel to another state to visit family shopping is not the first thing you plan to do. But when you stay home shopping seems a lot more accessible and easy. Of course when you factor in tens of thousands of people fighting for the same few items on sale, it becomes very stressful.

Let’s see what happens in the coming weeks with holiday sales. Hopefully they will stay strong, which is always a positive factor for the economy overall with positive confidence and consumer spending. The stock market loves sales figures that go up versus down and we could see big end of the year gains in the market overall if an upward trend is contagious. Let’s all cross our fingers. I know I am as I have seen some of my remaining stocks drop to barely 1/5th of their previous highs. It is very depressing.

From USAToday - Early data show strong Black Friday

Sales on the day after Thanksgiving rose to $10.6 billion, according to preliminary figures released Saturday by ShopperTrak RCT Corp., a Chicago-based research firm that tracks sales at more than 50,000 retail outlets.

Last year, shoppers spent about $10.3 billion on the day after Thanksgiving, dubbed Black Friday because it was historically the sales-packed day when retailers would become profitable for the year.

While it isn’t a predictor of overall holiday season sales, Black Friday is an important barometer of people’s willingness to spend during the holidays. Last year, it was the biggest sales generator of the season.

But experts caution that this year’s sales growth may be hard to sustain for the remainder of the holiday shopping season, which has 27 days between Thanksgiving and Christmas instead of the 32 last year.

Still, the sales boost was surprising in light of data showing shoppers are scaling back on discretionary spending because of a recession fueled by uncertainty related to turmoil in the world’s financial and credit markets.

“Under these circumstances, to start off the season in this fashion is truly amazing and is a testament to the resiliency of the American consumer, and undeniably proves a willingness to spend,” ShopperTrak co-founder Bill Martin said in a statement.

Across the country, sales in the South were up 3.4% from last year while they climbed 2.6% in the Northeast as shoppers began scouring store aisles at midnight hoping to snag the best selection on early morning specials.

Patty Saal, 60, of Mogadore, Ohio, began her Black Friday shopping at 5 a.m. when she and her daughters went to a Sam’s Club to purchase iPods.

“We’re doing fine,” she said.

Fifth grade teacher Daphna Stepen, 42, spent Black Friday hunting for deals inside Macy’s and at the Limited Too clothing store and headed out again on Saturday. The Chicago resident said she was surprised by the discounts as well as how many coupons she’d received from stores, which helped her save even more money on already marked-down items.

“You can get almost 40% off stuff if you work the coupons,” she said.

Separately on Saturday, J.C. Penney Co. Inc. said business was strong in its sites across the country as customers responded to sales. Some of the department store’s best sellers were smaller electronic gadgets and practical gifts, such as sweaters, boots, coats and luggage.

But the chain said it wouldn’t provide specific sales figures.

“In light of the challenging and volatile economic climate, and shifts in this year’s retail calendar, we don’t believe that reporting sales data for any one day (or weekend), including Black Friday, would provide a meaningful barometer of our business,” the Plano, Texas company said in a statement released Saturday afternoon