Thanksgiving / Black Friday

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Breedlove

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Ok everybody here is your chance to give it to me ! Every year after we eat our grand dinner we lay around and watch football . Wife , son and me. Every year around 6:00 my wife who exercises like someone from a gym advertisement make my son and me go to Fairfield Mall to WALK !!! BLACK FRIDAY ! First she asks me to drive. The mall has tiny parking places , I am funny I don't want my PU truck dinged. Everyone just seems to slam their car in a parking place . It seems like thousands of people scrambling to buy women's purses . ( Kate Spade ,Tory Birch ,Coach ) how can this be ?? They only let so many people in these stores at a time so the line for these stores seem to be steady at around 75 people . We walk into stores around screaming kids, people speaking languages that I have no clue. Before we leave we go into Under Armor ( my wife's favorite store ) I can work out in a T shirt and shorts she has to use UA . The only thing we buy after almost three hours of walking are warm up pants for her . I say Happy Thanks giving / Merry Christmas to the clerk who we have known from previous visits . He whispers to us " We aren't allowed to say that . After all of this, walking to my truck my wife looks at her fit bit and says , we did good we walked 3700 steps ..........bring on the pecan Pie !
 
I can't think of a much worse thing for me than Black Friday shopping. It would be hell on earth!

I do have a friend who says over and over and over again how he is finally getting on the right track to financial security (even spent $60 going to a Dave Ramsey conference!) and had gone to 5 stores yesterday alone. He and his DW go through that madness every single year.
 
I think you can get just as good deals online now as in the stores, so I see no reason to endure the chaos of the brick and mortar retail experience today. But I do think that a lot of people really enjoy the experience, and for those who do, let them have their fun.

I scored a pair of Asics Kayano 22 running shoes for $80 online, so I'm set for my Black Friday shopping for another year.
 
ExFlyBoy5 said:
I can't think of a much worse thing for me than Black Friday shopping. It would be hell on earth!
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+1

I never shop on Black Friday for that reason. I might check online to see what is available there, but it won't help me in my efforts to work off yesterday's over-eating. Oh well. :blush:
 
The best part of retirement is shopping when everyone else is working - i don't even leave my house on Black Friday. Great day to clean up from thanksgiving and binge watch TV.
 
I have little patience for long lines in retail establishments so I usually stay home on Black Friday. Costco had a good deal on a stick vacuum I wanted, though, so I headed out there. Traffic was OK and Costco wasn't any more crowded than usual (hmmm, should I sell my Costco stock?). I hope the businesses do well because it's good for stock prices but I won't be contributing a heck of a lot to the bottom line.
 
athena53 said:
Costco had a good deal on a stick vacuum I wanted, though, so I headed out there. Traffic was OK and Costco wasn't any more crowded than usual (hmmm, should I sell my Costco stock?).
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We got a Dyson in the morning, too. Costco traffic was pretty light.
 
In my opinion, deals are usually better after mid-December.

I do all my shopping online although DW still hits the Mall on occasion. Apparently, she needs a "Mall fix" on occasion. I usually just drop her off there and pick her up when she calls me.
 
No Black Friday or Christmas shopping for us for decades now. We generally buy stuff when we need it, and it may not coincide with the holiday season.
 
It is relatively warm in the area today, so I opted to golf. The several others golfers I encountered also said they were also on the links to avoid the Black Friday hype. :)
 
No way no how would I go anywhere near a mall on Black Friday. We did go to the gym and made a light grocery run but stayed well clear of any malls. I don't understand why anyone would endure that torture but I suppose they regard it as a sport or something. And like Athena53 I have little patience for lines - I figure if they're too busy to take my money I'll spend it someplace else.
 
I do not enjoy shopping and avoid all of it from Thanksgiving through Christmas.

But.... today I felt like having an adventure. I saw a Doorbuster/Black Friday deal on an item at Kohls and I drove 12 miles to get there. Traffic was not bad at all, parking was full but tolerable, the item was in stock and the 30 minute wait in line to check out was monitored by employees and full of friendly people behaving nicely.

My item was a Hamilton Beach 2 speed immersion blender, regular price (meaningless) of $24.99, on sale for $21.99. I had a promo $10 Kohls gift card for today only that had to be used in store by 1pm, then I had a 15% off coupon so the item came to $10.88 after tax. Then after that there is a $12.00 mail in rebate. Total cost to me will be -$1.12.

I wasn't doing anything else today so this was a fun adventure and while I was out I hit two more stores (crowd free and hassle free) including a newly remodeled Aldi. Nice improvement, I wish it was closer.

Still can't believe that I, Sue J, went out on Black Friday. So unlike me.
 
Sue J said:
I do not enjoy shopping and avoid all of it from Thanksgiving through Christmas.

But.... today I felt like having an adventure. I saw a Doorbuster/Black Friday deal on an item at Kohls and I drove 12 miles to get there. Traffic was not bad at all, parking was full but tolerable, the item was in stock and the 30 minute wait in line to check out was monitored by employees and full of friendly people behaving nicely.

My item was a Hamilton Beach 2 speed immersion blender, regular price (meaningless) of $24.99, on sale for $21.99. I had a promo $10 Kohls gift card for today only that had to be used in store by 1pm, then I had a 15% off coupon so the item came to $10.88 after tax. Then after that there is a $12.00 mail in rebate. Total cost to me will be -$1.12.

I wasn't doing anything else today so this was a fun adventure and while I was out I hit two more stores (crowd free and hassle free) including a newly remodeled Aldi. Nice improvement, I wish it was closer.

Still can't believe that I, Sue J, went out on Black Friday. So unlike me.
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Nice deal on that blender! :cool:
 
Sad
 

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I didn't leave the property. Just played in my workshop. I'd like to hang out at home through the whole holiday season and avoid the crowds, but DW has some social outings planned.
 
For the last 7 years we have made a habit of driving about an hour in the opposite direction of the town centre, with our son, to spend the day at the Texas Renaissance Festival, arriving there when it opens at 9am.

Great fun again this year.

We've never been anywhere near the stores on Black Friday.
 
Alan said:
For the last 7 years we have made a habit of driving about an hour in the opposite direction of the town centre, with our son, to spend the day at the Texas Renaissance Festival, arriving there when it opens at 9am.

Great fun again this year.

We've never been anywhere near the stores on Black Friday.
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Cool! OMG it's been so long since we've been there! I still have a blown glass pitcher I bought there in the late 80s I think.

I'll never forget the chain mail fashion show! LOL!!!
 
ExFlyBoy5 said:
I can't think of a much worse thing for me than Black Friday shopping. It would be hell on earth!
Click to expand...

About ten years ago I went out to get a Black Friday deal on a television. I won't make that mistake again. The line to get into the store was 300 people deep. Just getting into and out of the parking lot was a combat sport. I think it might have been General Sherman who said "Black Friday is hell."

I know people who love it, and are delighted that the battle starts at 6pm on Thanksgiving Day, when I am at home luxuriating in a food coma. It occurs to me that those frenzied BF shoppers are really members of a secret vigilante army for which the "shopping" is a cover for their wargames. Sure, they may look like rabid bargain hunters as they trample each other in a battle for some artificially scarce, state-of-the-art, soon-to-be-obsolete doohickey, but it's gotta be an act. No sane person would endure such carnage willingly.

As for me, I hunker in the bunker all day Friday eating turkey sandwiches. Maybe I go out as far as the mailbox.
 
I went shopping during Black Friday a couple of times in my life and swore I'd never do that again. I must really be slacking off as didn't even browse for any online bargains either.
 
We were going to go downtown for dinner tonight and then remembered it was Black Friday. So instead we tried a new Chinese restaurant out in the suburbs. It was a nice date night out and we didn't have to drive around looking for parking or wait for a table.

I did buy a couple of Black Friday specials online - an entertainment.com coupon book and a seat filler subscription. We like to go out to eat and see plays and comedy shows so we will make good use of both of those.
 
Breedlove said:
Ok everybody here is your chance to give it to me ! Every year after we eat our grand dinner we lay around and watch football . Wife , son and me. Every year around 6:00 my wife who exercises like someone from a gym advertisement make my son and me go to Fairfield Mall to WALK !!! BLACK FRIDAY ! . ... The only thing we buy after almost three hours of walking are warm up pants for her . ... After all of this, walking to my truck my wife looks at her fit bit and says , we did good we walked 3700 steps ..........bring on the pecan Pie !
Click to expand...

So you lay around all afternoon on Thanksgiving and by 6 pm your DW is sick of all the sitting and wants to get out of the house (and by then it's dark and too late to walk around outside for three hours)? Did she do all the cooking and cleaning up? If so, I think you smile and say, "Yes dear" and do whatever she asks. If not, you could offer alternatives like go for a really long walk earlier in the day instead of watching one of the games....

Are you at the mall on Thursday or Friday--it sounds like Thursday? I wouldn't want to go either day but for family harmony I'd grit my teeth and do it.
 
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I went to BJs at 8AM to buy a wine cooler yesterday. They said there was a line to get in at 6AM. The place was less crowded at 8AM than most weekdays. Bought my wine cooler for $99.

My son is building a computer with his best friend and he forgot to order SATA signal cables and it was too late for cheap shipping. We decided to brave Best Buy Thursday evening and get them. They only had 5 cables left so I'm glad we did. He has limited time as his buddy lives out of town and is going home tomorrow. They have to do it today at the latest.

The crowd was amazing and there was even an auction going on in the store. The line moved very well and people were cheerful. The staff was busy but also cheerful. I think Black Thursday and Friday for shoppers is fine. What's wrong is all the low wage retail workers who have to miss Thanksgiving in order to work retail combat duty.

Thanksgiving Day is the one holiday that is all about home, food, friends and family, all of our favorite things. Nonessential workers should not have to miss it, IMO.
 
I went out for some strategic shopping yesterday, and did very well. :)

We had 17 visitors, many were with us on Thursday and spent the night. DW prepared a wonderful Thanksgiving feast and there was no way she was going to cook again for a mob the next day. Besides which, some of the visitors are known to, eh, "comment openly" on the food, and I, eh, "frown" on that type of impolite behavior when we host.

So I went to the local deli and bought smoked salmon, roast beef, pastrami, cream cheese, cole slaw, and rolls. Delicious. Just a short wait - the place was packed - but everyone there was nice, and all the other stores in the strip mall were closed.
 
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