Week 3, blog #5

Today is the busiest shopping day of the year: Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. It's the day when retailers offer huge discounts on most of their merchandise in an effort to lure in early Christmas shoppers. According to this article, people were lining up at midnight, at least twelve hours before most stores opened, just to get the first crack at these deals.

I was not one of those people. Having a successful Black Friday shopping experience is all about strategy. My strategy this year was simple. My plan was to wait until the afternoon, around 12:30-1:30 and then go shopping. By this time, most of the huge morning crowds have left to go to lunch, traffic is less congested, and lines aren't as long. Some people might say that waiting until the afternoon might mean that the items you want will be gone. I've been doing this the past couple years, and I have found that this is not necessarily the case.

This year I went to Target and Best Buy at 14 Mile and John R; this is also where the Oakland Mall is so there is normally a lot of traffic. I was able to find everything that I wanted with relative ease. When I was at Target, the employees were in the process of restocking the electronics section so they had everything I was looking for. At Best Buy, they had everything that I wanted with the exception of one DVD, which I later ordered online.

I left my house at 1:30 p.m. and I was done shopping by 2:30. I had no problems parking and I did not have to wait in line at all at either store, which was surprising.

According to this article, most reports indicate that crowds were up this year compared to last year. The massive shopping crowds had a positive effect on one local business: Thunderbird Lanes day manager Ed Heichel said that business was booming all day long, and that they passed their sales from last Black Friday by 4:00 this afternoon.

I guess timing really is everything. I didn't have any issues today because while I was shopping, everyone else was apparently bowling.