I Remember Why Not to Participate in Black Friday Sales...

November 28, 2009

On Thanksgiving Day I was looking through the newspaper's advertisements and saw some really good sales at Best Buy -- which in light of the issues I have been having with computers were very inviting. I do not know when I last went to any store first thing on Black Friday, but for some reason I thought, "well, maybe I could swing by the store before playing basketball at 6:00AM at Black Rock Retreat." I only needed to get up half an hour earlier to pass by the store so I decided to see if by chance the lines at the store were not outrageously long.

Friday morning I got up very early and headed into Lancaster to see if I coud run in and out of Best Buy quickly. Because I was going to arrive before 5:00AM when Best Buy opened, I decided to see if Old Navy had slowed down. They were supposed to open around 3:00AM so I figured that the lines should have died down. I entered the store and gazed in horror at the checkout line. It extended from the front of the store to the back of the store. I knew exactly what jeans I needed were I to buy them but one look at the line and I knew I was not going to be making any purchases that day. I was appalled to at the disarray of the store. It looked as if people would grab an item, not want it, and just throw it on a pile somewhere. The sales persons could not keep up with the vast traffic flow.

I left Old Navy and drove over to Best Buy knowing that I would not be getting out of my car. Sure enough, as I entered the parking lot, I saw it was full. I could see a sea of people beginning to enter the store. And the line was long. I drove closer and closer to the store because I wanted to see just how long the line was. I saw that that the line wrapped around at least one side of the building and I would not have been surprised if it nearly wrapped around the entire exterior of the store. Needless to say I turned around and left and went to basketball early, having some good quiet time. I remembered why I do not participate in the Black Friday store stampedes. I doubt I will bother getting up early again on Black Friday. I much more enjoy the casual pace of my family on Black Friday which includes going to Central Market, a chocolate store and then relaxing at home.