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"Recent retail reports have shown consumers are a bit more eager and willing to spend this year," said Kathy Grannis, a spokeswoman for the National Retail Federation. "The 2.3 percent increase is a cautious, optimistic look."
I think this year will be better than last year, but certainly not what it was several years ago.
I think you can find better deals on-line shopping and shipping rates seem to be very affordable, if not free, this time of year. However, I love to visit my friends whom have shops in my area and always try to spend money locally as much as possible. It is a family tradition to shop on Black Friday and start the Holiday season. Saturday is spent getting pedicures and then watching movies.
I agree with those who have said it'll be better than last year but not like it used to be. People are still out en masse, though, which is really annoying and makes me want to not even set foot outside the house. I don't think the specials are as good online, if they did that, they'd make an even bigger killing. I think part of it is amusement on the part of retailers as to who will stand in line and for how long and in what weather.
Location: Jonquil City (aka Smyrna) Georgia- by Atlanta
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Originally Posted by theother
Black Friday has never been big in our family yeah we'll go out and see whats on sale and maybe buy whatever we like but it's not like we spend weeks preparing for it, it's most likely last minute. Like some said above a lot of people are buying whatever they need online, which is what I like. Especially if you use Amazon you can get a lot of good deals on there!!
It used to be big in ours when I got the day off and the kids were young. We'd get to the mall at 4AM and there were already many people there- some of whom slept there all night long in 30 degree weather. We always stratigized the night before by going through the sale papers and everybody was given certain items in certain stores to run and grab when the doors opened. It taught the kids great lessons about life- if you don't grab what you want, somebody else will. When the doors opened, we ran to and through the stores grabbing what we wanted. One year, it got really out of hand at Wal*Mart because we had to run clear to the back of the store to get the $15 DVD players and people were knocking over merchandise and trampling other people to get to them but we got 3 of them.
Location: Jonquil City (aka Smyrna) Georgia- by Atlanta
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Originally Posted by JetJockey
Most of my company takes 'black friday' off to have a long 4-1/2 day weekend (we get half of Wed. off for traveling and whatnot) but I'm coming in Friday specifically because we'll be dead and nobody will be here. I'm planning on getting a lot done that I normally can't when people are here.
It was never an "official" holiday at my company which was Bellsouth/Cingular but every employee is entitled to select 4 personal holidays every year and most of us always put one of those days on Black Friday. Bellsouth always honoured the personal holidays because there is very little work to do that day and, as long as a skeleton staff was around to handle what did come in, they were OK with it. When AT&T took over, they decided they wanted full staffing on that Friday so they cancelled all employee's Personal Holidays on that day. But the catch is that they have to pay triple time for Personal Holidays or any company holiday worked so I don't really mind it. The way I figure it, if they want to pay us triple time for sitting around on Black Friday, it is fine with me.
Some retailers are starting on Thanksgiving day and not waiting til midnight..so Black Friday starts on Thursday. Sad..people will have to miss the true meaning of the holiday to go to work
It's all about the almighty dollar...
Location: Jonquil City (aka Smyrna) Georgia- by Atlanta
16,259 posts, read 24,761,129 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HappyTexan
Some retailers are starting on Thanksgiving day and not waiting til midnight..so Black Friday starts on Thursday. Sad..people will have to miss the true meaning of the holiday to go to work It's all about the almighty dollar...
That's what it has always been about. And you people that that the shet was all about Jesus or something?? Fools! Christmas is a joke. Really, if we had any shame, we'd take Christ's name out of it.
That's what it has always been about. And you people that that the shet was all about Jesus or something?? Fools! Christmas is a joke. Really, if we had any shame, we'd take Christ's name out of it.
KevK..Thanksgiving was all about family and giving thanks for what you had.
When I was growing up it was NEVER about Christmas shopping.
I grew up in NYC..it was going downtown to see the parade and then all the relatives going to my grandma's house. We had a big dinner..yes we had a "kids table" and had a good time well into the night. It was the start of Christmas season, but it was not the all out, got to hurry and eat so we can go shopping holiday that it's turned into.
People have let the retailers take over their holidays.
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