Black Friday Blitz

[GAC]

I am always disheartened and lose alot of faith in my fellowman after witnessing this yearly madness and frenzy that goes on on this annual shopping day.

Watching the news this morning I am seeing story after story across this nation, along with film footage, showing people fighting, getting trampled and injured, and with little or no regard for those that have fallen down... and all for the sake of a sale!

Was it worth it?

It reminds me of that Who concert in Cincy 20+ years ago.... or 22 guys on a football field trying to jump on a fumbled ball...or throwing a piece of meat into a tank of sharks.

I saw one scene where security people were using pepper spray on shoppers as they open the doors. Yeah, that's using your head! We'll open the doors and then blind a portion of you so the people behind you can trample you.

Simply ridiculous.

I board myself up in my home and refuse to even venture outside on this day. I already had alot of my shopping already done anyway. I find pretty good deals on the 'net, and always get free shipping. It's the only way to go.

Shopping Season Off To A Wild Start

POLICE CALLED TO RESTORE CALM AT MTN. VIEW WAL-MART

By John Boudreau, Jessie Seyfer, Michele Chandler and HongDao Nguyen

Mercury News


The holiday shopping season kicked off Friday with a near-riot at the Wal-Mart in Mountain View as early-morning bargain hunters jostled with each other to get their hands on discounted laptop computers.

Police were eventually called to calm unruly shoppers who climbed over a display case and shouted in a desperate effort to get their hands on one of a couple-of-dozen Hewlett-Packard notebook computers -- on sale for just $22 off the regular price of $400.

While such Homer Simpson-like behavior wasn't the norm across the Bay Area, it gives new meaning to the so-called door-buster sale campaigns retailers used to lure the buying masses at the start of the season, which represents about a quarter of their annual sales.

More stores than ever opened at 5 a.m., including Kohl's, Mervyns, Fry's Electronics, J.C. Penney and Wal-Mart. They enticed shoppers with promises of eye-popping discounts on portable DVD players, jewelry, laptops and LCD TVs.

Even Apple Computer jumped into the special Black Friday discounting frenzy. In an unusual move, the Cupertino company dropped prices of its new iMac G5 and its PowerBook G4 by $101.

After the Mountain View Wal-Mart opened at 5 a.m., hundreds of shoppers stormed inside, many charging the electronics department, where HP Pavilion laptop computers were selling for $378 for six hours only. The model normally sells for at least $400, according to Hewlett-Packard.

Customers sprinted to the counters, some leaping over them into the area where panicked clerks stood. A nearby display case was crunched to the ground, broken, witnesses said.

"I heard a mother yelling at her child saying, `I told you, you needed to be aggressive, you needed to get that!' '' recalled shopper Debbie Pavao, of Santa Clara. "And you could hear this young child saying, `But Mom, but Mom!' . . . The child couldn't have been more than 10 or 11.''

Within minutes, police showed up and order was restored. No arrests or injuries were reported.

A manager at the Mountain View store, who would only give her first name as Marilyn, downplayed the ruckus, calling it "just a normal blitz day.''

But Atherton resident and customer Juliet Herbst wasn't impressed with Wal-Mart's handling of the blitz.

"It's incredibly rude because the way they got us there was by advertising things that didn't materialize,'' she said. "They had big advertisements all over the place and there was no offer for rain checks.''

Near mayhem also was reported at Wal-Mart stores in Oakland, Orlando, Fla., and Renton, Wash.

Retailers refer to the day after Thanksgiving as Black Friday because it launches the season they hope makes for a profitable year.

"Lukewarm promotions on Black Friday won't get consumers out of bed, so most stores went all out this year to ensure that they were part of the holiday hype,'' said Tracy Mullin, president and chief executive of the National Retail Federation trade group. "This will go down as one of the earliest and most promotional Black Fridays in history.''

[Unassisted]

I saw the wire photos of little kids nearly getting trampled as people scrambled into stores yesterday. I saw the news stories showing people leaping and jumping over displays and fellow shoppers to get to the items they sought. I also read a couple of deal forums where the hardcore "camp-in-the-parking-lot" crowd were discussing the mob justice they would inflict on those who dared to suggest they might cut in line.

It shouldn't take many more injuries to get legislative action on this. Retailers need to get this message: You advertise something at a doorbuster price, you damn well better have enough of it on hand to accommodate the throngs of people who are going to want to buy it at that price—and if you don't have enough, you give those people rain checks.

Another poster on a deal forum told about how he used a wheelchair (for that day only) to gain sympathy, and while in the chair, he talked some of the people at the front of the line into giving up their vouchers for the cheap laptop computer. He bragged that he planned to sell the 7 computers he purchased from that store into a profit of many hundreds of dollars on eBay. I don't know if it's true or not, but reading that made me glad I didn't try to go out in that mess.

[dman]

GAC, I'm with you on using the net for Christmas shopping. You don't have to venture out during this time of year, and I've found that you get far better deals also. The mentality of people during Black Friday astounds me, and every year it seems to become more dog eat dog. Also, during this time of year a lot of the online shopping sites will offer better deals on their shipping, often times free shipping if you spend a certain dollar amount.

[Red in Chicago]

did anyone see the video of the lady who got knocked down to the ground and her wig flew off? as she's laying on the ground, you can see her grabbing at it and putting it back on...i don't think she got hurt, but it was pretty funny:

[MrCinatit]

[b]After the Mountain View Wal-Mart opened at 5 a.m., hundreds of shoppers stormed inside, many charging the electronics department, where HP Pavilion laptop computers were selling for $378 for six hours only. The model normally sells for at least $400, according to Hewlett-Packard.

so people were breaking out in fights to save 12 bucks on a computer...a 3 percent savings? remarkable.
i've been in the retail biz for more than a dozen years - fortunately, the last two have been spent on a possition where i do not see this madness.

[westofyou]

Consumerism is a waste of energy.

BTW I think that HP Lapptop starts at $700 or so, not $400 that looks like a typo. That Mountain View Wal Mart is the only one in that area IIRC, therefore it probably drew quite a mob.

[GAC]

did anyone see the video of the lady who got knocked down to the ground and her wig flew off? as she's laying on the ground, you can see her grabbing at it and putting it back on...i don't think she got hurt, but it was pretty funny:

Yeah. Saw that one. She was laying under that pile, while people are stepping over her, and she's like a RB that just fumbled the ball and with linemen laying on him, he's trying to scoop the ball back in...this time it was a wig. And I know it's not a funny situation (but can you not help but laugh?), but she was laying under that pile and trying to put the wig back on.

A couple years ago my brother went to his first (and last) Black Friday. They got up at 4:30 and were waiting in line outside of the local Meijers store. Right before the store was ready to open the doors, this lady, with cart in hand, tried to stride right past everyone in line as if it was her right. My brother shoved his cart in front of her and said "Where in the $%$##@ do you think you're going?" She got real indignate and a store clerk had to come out and tell her to get in line. My brother was glad that they intervened because he said looking at the size of this woman he thinks she could have took him down!

And why in the world would anyone take their kids? Of course some use their kids as "runners", and make them fly through the store to the exhibits as soon as the doors are open. What a great way to bring up your children and teach them the value of greed and selfishness.

But I do agree - sooner or later some sort of legislation is gonna come out of this when someone gets seriously injured and then sues a store. If these stupid stores are gonna create this type of environment/frenzy, then they need to do better preparation beforehand.

We went to EB Games earlier today and the clerk there said they only had 13 of the XBox 360's and all of those were pre-bought/reserved. So all of those people waiting in line since midnight the night before, who had their hopes up, were in for a huge letdown when they got in. I asked the guy if they had told the customers this info prior and he said No. I think that is wrong, and if someone had rioted the store almost deserved anything they got.

But looking at the hourly wage alot of this store clerks make, you'd have to give me combat pay!

[savafan]

I had never gone out shopping the day after Thanksgiving before. Unfortunately, I had a Zales bill that I hadn't yet paid, and it was due yesterday, so I had to drive to the Fairfield Commons Mall in Beavercreek. Never again...I felt like I was in a riot or a warzone.

[Yachtzee]

I live just down the road from Little Tikes, where they make all of the molded plastic kids toys. I really like how they do things. They don't have a company store or anything like that. What they do is open the doors to their warehouse one day a year in the middle of July (They call it their "Christmas in July" sale of course). People get there at 2 am with U-Haul trailers and the like because it's first come, first served, buy as much as you can carry. The discount are HUGE ($300 motorized ride-on Hummer H2 for $150). Anyway, the line gets huge before they open, but they make sure to set things up so that everything happens in an orderly fashion. First they maintain a strict line, single file, no cuts. Employees then walk the line, passing out an inventory sheet to let people know whether something is only available in limited quantities. When it's sold out, they let you know. They only let it as many people as is safe for fire codes and once the limit is reached, they only let someone in as someone else leaves. They also are nice enough to put out a stand where they offer food and drink for sale, with the proceeds going to charity.

Of course, even with all that, I still wait until 3 pm, when the line is gone and you can just walk it and get what you want, pay for it and leave. They have plenty of stock in just about everything except the discontinued items. The great thing about it is that I was able to buy a bunch of stuff cheaply and hold a lot of it in reserve. We still have things I bought 2 years ago that we're wrapping to give our son this christmas.

[Hap]

What could you possibly purchase on that day that you can't get any other day?

And, how long has it been called "Black Friday"? I don't recall hearing that until this year.

[savafan]

What could you possibly purchase on that day that you can't get any other day?

And, how long has it been called "Black Friday"? I don't recall hearing that until this year.

For an example, Aeropostale at the Fairfield Commons Mall was having a 50% off everything in the store sale. If you can buy for a lot of people there, you save a ton of money.

This is at least the third year now that I can remember it being called Black Friday.

Black Friday Blitz sounds like a Ben & Jerry's ice cream flavor.

[Matt700wlw]

It's called the biggest shopping day of the year.

Translation to me: Keep your butt at home.

[Unassisted]

Retailers have called the day "Black Friday" for many years. Because of the high volume of sales, it is traditionally the day of the year where retail stores' annual balance sheets first go into the "black," or show a profit for the year.

[MrCinatit]

Retailers have called the day "Black Friday" for many years. Because of the high volume of sales, it is traditionally the day of the year where retail stores' annual balance sheets first go into the "black," or show a profit for the year.

they probably will not every confirm this, but it is also called black friday because this is when some of the darkest aspects of the human persona come to surface. (ie riots, greed)

[GAC]

I think it would make a great concept for a video game for X Box. It would of course have to be rated "M" for mature shoppers only.

My wife and my brother's wife poured over all the sale ads/flyers that came in the paper the day before (wouldn't you hate to be a paperboy on those days? )

They didn't see anything on sale that the kids asked for... yet still got up early and went out into that mess!

Which proves my theory that women carry an addictive shopping gene.