I had hardly put the leftover Halloween trick or treat candy away when I heard a commercial from one of the “big box retail” stores about a “Pre Black Friday” Christmas sale beginning Nov 2’nd!
Now that’s moving the Christmas shopping season up a bit! Traditionally “Black Friday” has been the first shopping day after Thanksgiving since the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in 1924. The term “Black Friday” has been traced back only to 1970 and was called that because of the heavy traffic on that day, although most contemporary uses of the term refer instead to it as the beginning of the period in which retailers are in the black from turning a profit. Actually, the busiest retail shopping day of the year in the US in terms of both sales and customer traffic is usually the Saturday before Christmas.
Now that makes sense to me, but I’m a last minute shopper anyway and that’s because besides being not much of a shopper if I want to get the full blast of the holiday season no better way that to fight through hordes of shoppers all looking for that “right” something and facing the reality that the good stuff is gone so you’ll probably end up with a unique, one of a kind, rare gift. But like they say “It’s the thought that counts”!
But getting back to the pre “Black Friday” sales, not all the big guys are holding them but there have been complaints from merchants not doing them about the ones that are. It seems a bit sacrilegious to completely shove Thanksgiving out of the way and just focusing in on Christmas but there is logic to it from the retail aspect. For example most of the items offered in the first pre- Black Friday sales were electronics and popular toys. These are the cash “now” type items, young people want the latest gadgets “now” and toys are always popular as any parent would know.
So get those “now” gifts at great prices and your holiday season can be a fun time without the stress of having to shop anymore. Some of the big Malls in the country are pushing sales “now” with appearances by Santa’s and other Christmas icons saying “come in now and get it done in November and enjoy December!”
They are suggesting you’ll save time and cash by shopping now where parking won’t be a hassle and you’ll have a full inventory to choose from. But we all know what the bottom line is here; retailers hope to spur domestic growth which recently has been flat, and its customers have been faced with higher energy prices and a rocky economy.
I guess I’m just a touch old fashion and while I can relate to the retailers mentality I would really like to suggest that we don’t forget Thanksgiving in the holiday madness and remember that Thanksgiving Day is a day to give thanks and share the things we have at the end of the harvest season!
To reach Rick Schultze email: yarick@pioneer.net