Big biz, some black eyes on Black Friday
Indeed, about 600 shoppers were in line at a Target store in Brooklyn in New York when it opened at midnight. By the time it opened at midnight, nearly 2,000 shoppers wrapped around a Best Buy store in St. Petersburg, Fla. Mall of America, the nation's largest mall in North America, had 15,000 shoppers for its midnight opening. And more than 9,000 people were outside the flagship Macy's store in New York's Herald Square at its midnight opening, up from 7,000 a year ago.
"I came here for the deals," said Sidiki Traore, 59, from Roosevelt Island, N.Y. who bought three shirts for $50 at the Macy's. He also went to Toys R Us for its 9 p.m. opening on Thanksgiving and bought three toys for $106 for his four-year-old son.
In addition to opening earlier than usual this year, some stores offered to match their competitors' prices, rolled out layaway programs or offered more door-buster deals than last year.
Emmanuel Merced and his brother showed up at a Best Buy in New York at 3 p.m. on Wednesday so they could be the first in line when it opened at midnight Thursday to grab a Sharp 42-inch TV for $199.99, a PlayStation 3 with games for $199.99 and wireless headphones for $30.
Merced said he likes camping out for Black Friday and figured he saved 50 percent.
"I like the experience of it," said Merced, who plans to spend $3,000 to $4,000 on gifts this season.
The crowds are good news for retailers, many of which depend on the busy holiday shopping season for up to 40 percent of their annual revenue.
To be sure, not every place was full on Black Friday. With so many major stores opening at midnight, many people stayed up late and shopped early. Then there were those who stuck to their normal routine of going to stores that opened later Friday morning. That left a lull in the hours just before and after daybreak.
At a Target on Chicago's North Side, crowds were light four hours after the store opened at midnight. And door-buster deals, including the typically quick-to-sell-out TVs and game systems, remained piled up in their boxes. Shoppers pushed carts through mostly empty aisles while thumbing through circulars, and employees in Santa hats roamed the store. There was no Christmas music — or any music — playing.
Rebecca Carter, a graduate assistant, began Black Friday shopping at 11 p.m. on Thursday and left Target around 4 a.m. carrying a bag full of pillows. Carter said the crowds were noticeably lighter this year as she and a friend picked up a 32-inch TV for $180 and a laptop for $198, along with toys and pajamas.
"It's quiet," she said. "It was shocking."
For this holiday shopping season, retailers are hoping to rake in $466 billion in sales, so the competition in getting every shopping dollar is tough -- hence why Black Friday is turning into Black Thursday.
"Customers have been telling us for a long time they wanted to come in earlier," said Amy Adonis of Best Buy, told CBS News. She added: "It's a whole multichannel business. People can shop online, shop from home, shop in the store, shop online while they are in the store. It just works out great."
Black Friday begins Thursday night
Some Occupy Wall Street protesters, which turned up for the Macy's midnight opening, were expected to plan flash mobs and other events later in the day in places like Chicago, Washington, D.C. and Boise, Idaho to urge people to reconsider shopping at national chains on Black Friday.
In San Francisco, a few dozen people gathered in Union Square to tell shoppers that they should spend their money on education rather than buying clothing and electronics.
About 20 Occupy Sacramento protesters marched from a park to a small downtown mall, chanting that shoppers should support local businesses. They made a stop inside a Macy's department store, where the group's leader asked shoppers through a bullhorn not to make purchases there.
In Harrisburg, Pa., Occupy Harrisburg said a member of its group has been arrested at a city mall on Black Friday over a zombie outfit.
Lower Allen Township police said a young woman was arrested after refusing mall security's request to remove the facial makeup. The Capital City Mall bans outfits that obscure a person's face.
The protester, Jenn Hara, said she was merely asking security for more information about the mall's regulation when she was handcuffed and charged with misdemeanor trespassing.
The U.S. Small Business Administration is also promoting Small Business Saturday, which encourages people to shop at smaller, mom-and-pop stores on the day after Black Friday.
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There is actually NO NEED for police riot teams at peaceful OWS sit-ins, at most 1 car to keep mentally unstable citizens from joining the group. There should be FEDERAL investigations into the collusion/racketeering between city halls and Republican/Corporate leaders who are trying to kill OWS to keep their handle on power. (JUST LIKE IN EGYPT and SYRIA RIGHT NOW!) The mayors have wasted millions of dollars on police overtime doing the bidding for ELITIST Republicans. This is pure corruption within our local governments, federal Republicans, corporations and the Corporate Media.
Where are the Media and GOOPERS tallying the cost to the citizens to have the police patrol Black Friday violence?
Megan McCain on Jay Leno, Nov. 18, 2011, said OWS is no good because they have RAPES! Well my little SHILL, Arizona (2010) had at least 1460 RAPES and 14,965 Aggravated Assaults. One Violent Crime occurs every 22 min. 13 sec. We should be shutting down the State of Arizona!
Unless we run out of land cuz were sure not runnin out of JUNK to buy
First of all, if someone asked you to wait in line for them, how much would you charge them. Let's say that amount is 10 bucks per hour. Let's say you're buying a product that is regularly priced at 150 dollars, and the sale price for Black Friday is 80 dollars. The apparent savings would be 70 bucks (150 - 80).
Now since you can't pay yourself to wait in line, you are already "losing money" when you are waiting in line. For this example I will define the real savings as:
150 - 80 - (number of hours you wait in line both before you walk in the store and after you get in line to pay for the item) times 10 - (additional costs related to waiting in line or being in the store (medicine you need to purchase if you catch a cold, medical cost if you fall down and get hurt during the initial dash to buy your item, etc.)).
For this example let's make it simple:
Savings = 150 - 80 - 5 times 10 - 0 = 20 dollars.
In this example, I have the shopper buying something that normally costs 150 dollars for 80 dollars. The shopper had to waiting in line for 4 hours to get into the store and had to wait in line for 1 hour to pay for his item (1 + 4 = 5). He did not require medication or get ill from waiting in line. He also did not get hurt. Also this shopper considers waiting in line worth 10 dollars an hour.
Example two:
I have a shopper buying an item that normally costs 300 dollars for 150 dollars. He had to wait in line for 6 hours outside in the cold. He then had to wait in line for two hours to pay for his item. He then had to buy cold medicine for 15 dollars after he got the flu from waiting in line in the cold. He then had to call off work for Saturday because he was too ill to come in (He was going to make about 100 dollars for 8 hours of overtime work. For him personally, a day off is worth 50 dollars.).
For this example:
Savings = 300 - 150 - (6 + 2) times 10 - 15 - 100 + 50 (a day off is worth 50 dollars to this shopper) = a mere 5 dollars
He could have saved more when the item was on sale for 250 dollars during another time of the year.