Black Friday

The day after Thanksgiving is an auspicious day for many - i.e., it is the day when many retail stores slash their prices and offer huge promotional discounts, and there is a mad rush to grab the best bargains possible. This day is called Black Friday. Why is it called that? Well, Black Friday always falls on a Friday....duh (since Thanksgiving is always on the last Thursday of November). The term "black" refers to when many retailers go from being in the red (i.e., a loss on the books) to being in the black (i.e., a profit on the books), because their sales jump dramatically.

Most retail stores will open super early on Black Friday - like at midnight (Toys "R" Us....are they crazy?????) or 4am or 5am (JC Penney, Macy's, Best Buy, etc.). Additional discounts are offered if you dare to be sleep-deprived, and come in that early. The super discounts are offered until 1pm or earlier that day. So, of course, most people will do their shopping in the morning hours.

I woke up at 9am today. You will not catch me going shopping earlier than that....not for anything, unless there was some famous actor/writer making an appearance (e.g., Leonardo DiCaprio, Peter Reckell, Stephenie Meyer, JK Rowling, Jeffery Deaver...okay, you get the gist).

So, first stop, I headed to Filene's Basement. I got a card with a scratch off circle, stating I could save an additional 10% to 50%, and if one were really lucky, the whole purchase would be free.....there was only one catch. I wasn't allowed to scratch it off before deciding what to buy. No. What I had to do, was pick out what I wanted to buy, then go to the cash register, while the cashier punched in my purchases, and then the cashier would scratch off the card for me. Shucks. I wanted to know ahead of time. But I guess, Filene's wants to control their costs. And only one card per customer.....so forget that thought of grabbing five or six cards, and asking the cashier to scratch off each, and picking the one with the highest percentage discount....heheh...that is exactly what I would have done if it was allowed. But I guess Filene's Basement got wise since they started this scratch-card promotion I don't know how many years ago. So, of course I got the lowest percentage discount this time around - 10% off.

After Filene's Basement, I headed to JC Penney, because I had heard on the radio (yes, I still listen to that), that there was a promotion of $10 sweaters. $10 sweater....yikes. That I must see. So I practically ran there, especially, after seeing hundreds of people carrying those red JC Penney bags. Once I was there, I knew why. They had seriously, seriously slashed their prices, calling them "door busters". But this was only until 1pm. The place was packed. My heart was pounding like crazy, and I was so focused....all that adrenaline without any coffee. It was an awesome rush, but I wanted to be done ASAP, because after picking a bunch of clothes from the racks, my arms were seriously getting strained. I think I may have burned at least a hundred calories. I rushed to the fitting room, and tried on a bunch of sweaters. Then I rushed out, picked an additional bundle of clothes, ran back in, this time waited in line, and when I got a room, changed quickly and efficiently.

Then I went to the Price Check machine so that I could scan the clothing to double-check the prices, and see if there were any additional discounts. I really like this Price Check machine. It's so cool, with the red light (which looks like a swirl) hitting the 10-12 digit code attached to the clothing, making a beeping sound, and then the price flashing in front of you. Finally, I removed some items that I was on the fence about (e.g., a light brown sweater, which did absolutely nothing for me; sweat pants which looked great, but was made of a material that I couldn't stand), and then headed to the cash register to make my purchases.

After that, I called it a day in terms of shopping, even though Old Navy and Macy's were just around the corner. But the idea of facing another crowd was a no-no for me for today. So, I do hope you got the chance to take advantage of Black Friday's sales today. If not, well, there's always next year....which will fall on November 26th. Cheers :)