Black Friday, sounds like a terrible day, something like “the day the music died” or the stock market crashed, or maybe the end of the world.  But quite the opposite of all these dire possibilities, Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving, the busiest shopping day of the year.  Retail businesses dubbed this day “Black Friday” because this busy shopping day helps them move from being “in the red” to being “in the black”, in other words, from being unprofitable to profitable. 

There are people who view shopping as a sport and Black Friday is the championship round.  Who doesn’t want to win the championship?  Keeping in mind it’s good to prepare if you want to win, I have compiled a few websites to help you find Black Friday Deals or find coupons and there’s even a couple of  websites that notifies you if the price of an item you want drops.  So do your homework, get prepared, and go out there and WIN!  WIN!  WIN!   

Websites for Black Friday Deals: Continue Reading »

“Black Friday“, that phrase has an ominous sound.  It brings to mind a day of mourning, or maybe some Gothic Holiday.  I’m not sure who gave it this name, but “Black Friday” is typically the day after Thanksgiving, which is the start of the Christmas shopping season.  This is the first time all year that many retail establishments begin to turn a profit, in other words they are in the black instead of losing money.  There are always big sales with stores pushing loss leaders, customers lining up before stores open, and times for opening are pushed into the early morning hours.  It seems that all these things just aren’t enough for some of the big chain stores.  First they start displaying Christmas merchandise before Halloween and almost eclipsing Thanksgiving to push more shopping days on the unwilling consumers.    

It’s really kind of sad to ruin the best shopping adventure of the year.  I don’t know how it happens in other families, but after consuming mounds of turkey, stuffing, and pumpkin pie, the strategy session begins.  The guys all gather around the TV for an afternoon of football and the girls take the large bundle of ads that came in the morning paper and plan an attack on all the stores to pick off the best bargains of the day.  We decide who goes to which store in order of importance, and just how long before day break should we leave and where do we meet for coffee after the first round.  Everybody needs to get to bed early, be sure to set your alarm, don’t forget to wear comfortable shoes, and synchronize your watches.  Ready, set, shop!!

I think we should boycott early sales that infringe on the “Black Friday” ritual.  We Americans are strong people, and can endure lots of stress; the real estate bubble bursting, the banking system collapsing, the auto industry in trouble, but not the blurring of the boundaries of “Black Friday”.  Changing the ritual of “Black Friday” shopping, well, that’s just Un-American!

Black Friday