3 posts tagged “black friday”
When do you start your holiday shopping? I am usually finished by the time Black Friday arrives. I use the official opening day of shopping season to buy things we want or need. Rarely do I find gifts for loved ones and friends.
...is not something I do well. I don't rise at the crack of dawn to stand in line freezing for that $299 computer. I do shop on this day but it's well after the crowds are gone and the piping hot deals have been exhausted.
Our neighbor had to work on Friday, leaving her feeling very angry and sad that the rest of us would be lying in a warm bed well after her 6 a.m. departure. No matter though, since we all felt bad for her and decided to wait to do any shopping until she returned.
We picked her up from work around 2 p.m., dined at Coco's restaurant and then drove the one block to my favorite store Target. I have to say that this store was so neat and clean that there was no indication a mad sale had taken place earlier that morning.
We were shopping around 4 p.m. and Target still had plenty of $5.99 DVD's, decorations and music to satisfy our needs. I ended up buying Night at the Museum, The Notebook and The Holiday. Next we went to Bed, Bath & Beyond where I couldn't find Pomegranate fragrant beads, but did find a Pomegranate candle that smells divine! Of course, we bought other things we hadn't planned.
Even BB&B was very organized with plenty of check stands open and associates helpful and eager to assist. The attitude of the staff goes a long way to ensuring the experience I'll have at a store. If service sucks, I will not return even after the mad rush.
We awoke at 7 this morning and judging by Boo's itinerary for the day, I knew it was going to be a long Black Friday. We shopped at eight stores in eight hours and pretty much found everything we needed. The one item MIA was a Jensen iPod docking system with AM/FM radio.
We easily found parking everywhere we went and the staff was helpful. The crowds were well behaved and everyone just seemed to be in good spirits and eager to have a pleasant experience. You better believe we put our 20% discount coupon to use on our entire order.
A cashier at Bed, Bath & Beyond shared her concern about arriving to work at 4:30 a.m. until she saw a full parking lot and throngs of customers lined around the building and snaking through the lot. A Target associate said "People pushed through the doors and ran through the store like we were giving away stuff free!"
The shelves were stocked and the stores were not messy or in disarray. It's unbelievable that everywhere we went store associates would inquire "are you finding everything?", how often does this happen? Seriously, Sears is notorious for looking like a graveyard and having associates from the hardware department cover for someone in jewelry and not knowing anything helpful to the customer.
