Fairbanks early bird shoppers jam the stores on Black Friday
Published Friday, November 28, 2008
Digg
delicious
Facebook
Mixx
Reddit
Stumble It!
FAIRBANKS -- Searching through racks of soft rifle cases at Sportsman’s Warehouse, Kathy Stone and Patrona Simmons consulted their list.
Camouflage, with black ends. A super special deal just after 6 a.m., when the friends were on a roll after tackling Wal-Mart for blockbuster sales.
They’d spent Thanksgiving evening poring through sales circulars, marking their list with all the must-haves to secret beneath layers of bright, bold wrapping paper and nestle beneath the tree.
“We planned it all out last night,” Simmons said, as Stone waved a precise, neat list. Only six more stores to go.
“If you have a lot of family, this is the cheapest way to do it,” Simmons said. “We really get into it.”
Plenty of early bird shoppers hit Fairbanks super-sales beginning at 5 a.m. today, traditionally the busiest shopping day of the year.
Nationally, many retailers count on a rock-solid kickoff to the holiday shopping season, opening their doors at ever-earlier hours and enticing crowds with deep discounts on coveted items on the day after Thanksgiving. Sales were historically strong enough to drive companies from the red, above break-even, and into the black, leading to the day’s moniker, Black Friday.
The National Retail Federation projected shoppers would turn out in reasonably strong numbers this year, despite an unstable economy. According to a federation survey, up to 128 million shoppers said they’d check out bargains on Black Friday, down just slightly from 135 million last year. If the numbers pan out retailers could enjoy an early Christmas gift themselves after suffering through serious drops in consumer spending last month. The federation credited the moderate decline in anticipated Black Friday shoppers this year to lower gas prices and pent-up demand — shoppers who have put off spending and might now drop cash for stellar deals.
If the national economy is dragging, one couldn’t tell from the crowds at Sears, Gottschalks, Fred Meyer and more. Hiking boots would have helped late arrivals navigate from distant parking spots into Wal-Mart, while lines at the Old Navy registers were solid with shoppers bearing armloads of colorful clothes at bargain prices. By 4:30 a.m. parking lots of many stores were filling rapidly.
Just after 5 a.m., Beverly Harty perused giant block displays of specially priced DVDs with her daughter and a friend at Fred Meyer. The three make a tradition of Black Friday shopping specials, and this year picked up extra items to fill Christmas boxes for soldiers stationed overseas.
Standing at her artfully stacked cart — a sign of someone who’s braved Black Friday crowds before — Harty said each year, she counts on the half-off sock specials at Fred Meyer. Along with warm and colorful wear for the toes, handfuls of movies were tucked in between toys for the grandchildren and key electronics topping gift lists.
But after a whirlwind tour of the city’s major retailers, the work is far from over.
Ellen Evans usually makes a morning out of sale shopping with her mother and sister, who stayed home in Rampart this year. She’s got the lists, though, for her children, who range in age from 3 to 24.
“I come every year, for the good deals, and the excitement,” Evans said not long after 5 a.m. “It’s fun.”
Iron Man and Transformers toys were half-off at Fred Meyer, and deep discounts on video games helped make her selections easy. Others may have had to seek some back-ups. Shelves were cleared of a popular LeapFrog Leapster learning game system within minutes of Fred Meyer’s 5 a.m. opening, and a workerwas replenishing displays of widescreen, 7-inch digital photo frames selling for half-off the $79.99 sticker price.
The hard part comes when the gifts get home and the wrapping begins.
“I didn’t wrap them last year, and they found some,” Evans smiled. “I’ll try to get it all done.”
Community Discussion
Newsminer.com doesn't necessarily condone the comments here, nor does it review every post. Read our full user's agreement.
Well at least there were no tramplings at WalMart here.
Hope everyone had a great day of shopping and that you were able to save money on things you were going to purchase anyway. (I was done shopping two weeks ago, so I am glad that I did not have to be one of the throng in the midst of all the shopping madness.)
Let's not forget that this season is about more than materialism; a Walmart employee in the lower 48 was trampled to death by crazed shoppers this morning. My heart goes out to the family.
Let's share the spirit of graciousness and compassion this season for a truly memorable holiday.
Lemmings. Wish my buddy Non-Lemming was here to say something...
Did all mine when I got my dividend. They need to have a local in the black dividend day. Would that be so much to ask? I got some great deals though. Second hand is definitely the way to go if you want bargains when you've got kids to shop for. Any idea what a snowboard costs new? Eiiiyiiyii! We're pretty well dressed for people who only buy new underwear, shoes, and winter gear.
Sheilah let me send my wife to you. If it isn’t new and from Hannah Anderson we don’t own it. I just can’t believe people would jump up and go shopping when Pavlov rings the bell. Then again I only shop when I'm hungry or my stuff is worn out, or my wife tells me its too 80’s. I hear acid wash is making a comeback, I could be in style again.
New underwear? Who buys new underwear?
I tried the 5:00 am walmart shopping and will never do it again.People were totally psycho and extremely rude.We left went to fred meyers got all our stuff for just as cheap and everyone was calm and civil.
In the Bible God commands his people to celebrate the birth of Jesus by buying lots of stuff.
"And the Lord said unto thee, head on down to Wal-Mart and trample each other to get the best bargains on all sorts of useless stuff that you'll probably throw away in a year."
The Lord also is quoted in the bible: "And cram your pie-holes with lots and lots of food until your bodies are rippling with pounds and pounds of extra fat." "But be careful", said the Lord, "if your butts are too large gravity will prevent you from ascending unto Heaven. Gravity may suck you down into Hell."
Its all in the Bible. I looked it up. Really.
The truth of it all is. The stores jack up the prices and then say 25% off to make it look like the consumer is getting a good deal. When it was the same price the week before. Nobody gets things for cheap.
Wal-Mart White Trash:
CNN Excerpt:
"In New York, video footage showed as many as a dozen people knocked to the floor in the stampede of people trying to get into the Wal-Mart store, Fleming said. The employee was "stepped on by hundreds of people" as other workers attempted to fight their way through the crowd, Fleming said.
"Several minutes" passed before others were able to clear space around the man and render some aid. Police arrived, and "as they were giving first aid, those police officers were also jostled and pushed," he said."
And some wonder why Americans are so hated around the world.
A Wal-Mart employee trampled to death by early morning shoppers in Long Island.....
Two people shot dead at a "Toys-R-Us" in Southern California....
What the hell?
Truly a "Black Friday" indeed....senseless acts.
Prayers go out to the families...
nice guys finish last.
twodecades asks: "New underwear? Who buys new underwear?"
No kidding. Haven't any of these people heard of the transfer station?
Commando...
I think I am a good candidate for a visit from the Three Spirts of Christmas, I am not feeling up to it. Maybe I'll become a Johova Witness for a month. Seriously, I want to kick over every Christmas Tree I see, Bah Humbug!! LOL
My Black Friday:
Fred Meyer West for 6 "teen" gifts for Santa's Clearinghouse and 2 hams for the Food Bank.
Lunch at Pike's.
Home to feed cats.
Darn, my life is exciting!
At Walmart today, I learned that any kind of physical or verbal violence is perfectly acceptable as long as the giver says, "ExCUSE me!" Man, I was pushed, poked, pulled, and rudely told to move several times and all I was there to do was buy a couple $2 DVDs for soldiers over-seas. LOL
The sad thing is all the poor people are the ones out spending money
that they don't even have.
Walked in Walmart, said a few curse words, walked back to find the luggage advertised, they didn't have it or the place even for it. Walked back to toys, couldn't walk around, turn around or push a buggy. Said a few more curse words, walked over to the kids dept to find the hoodies advertised, didn't see them, walked toward the front of the store, found said Hoodies marked from $6 to $4. Thought hmmm....$2 savings, wait all day... In the words of our Governor, Thanks, but no thanks... Went to Gamestop spent 10 minutes, ran into Fred Meyers spent 20! So much easier. I will NEVER attempt Walmart Again. OH! and is it a prerequesit when Walmart hires associates that they know how to be extremely rude? Sam Walton would be so proud. His family has really tarnished what Walmart was supposed to be!
I liked my day... Woke up late, enjoyed home made waffles, worked on the cleanup from yesterday, enjoyed some leftovers, did the crossword, did all my Christmas cards, had some more leftovers, played a board game with my hubby & now we're sitting here just hanging out.
Perfect day!!!
Ya, princess that is a good day. I am jealous, LOL! I did remember today why I don't do black Fridays. Won't make that mistake AGAIN!
We'll go for coffee next year & reflect on the joys of not being out running around!
I used to bother with this long ago, when kids were little. I became brave again today, with the interest of my now teenage kids. They were so disappointed in the time and effort, that they never want to get up that early on their day off again. People are very rude, and I'm not talking about one store; I'm talking about all five stores we were at this morning.
Every year we get same OLD sales pitch from ALL the "news" and advertising sources: go spend money! We are going under if you don't buy something!
I understand the average house hold credit card debt is $17,000!!!!!!! At 20% interest?????
In my humble opinion a families' Christmas money would be better spent paying off their credit card debt and have some $5,000 in credit card interest money to spend next year vs buying left over factory close outs.
I heard a story about super bargain on a flat screen LCD tv! Something like $400 dollars for one that normally goes for $1,000.
I saw one to those bargains on display a few months ago - the contrast ratio was 800:1 which is about the poorest in the market! The TV was a left over from 4-5 years ago!
The picture was washed out and the screen had a whitish look! Compared to the newer 25,000:1 models having much better contrast ratio producing crisp colors. One, the new models claims a contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1
Also, left over cheap ones have a slow 60 cycle refresh rate which causes any moving object to have a "trail", and if the camera pans, changing all the screen image -yuk!!!! The picture looks like the poor cell phone images you see on the news.
By the way, I suspect any merchant who claims "back Friday" is necessary is picking your pocket. You simply can't loose money for 11 1/2 months and make it up in 4 weeks. But, what you can do is unload your left overs!
"Bargains" are bait, just like a worm on a fish hook.
As for Christmas shopping "bah humbug".
I tried to shop at Walmart last year on Black Friday. I went there for a particular item they advertised at a great price just for Black Friday first 8 hours only or something like that. I was one of the first in line waiting for the store to open. All was well until it got close to time for the doors to open. People just showing up started line-cutting and squeezing in wherever they could and when the doors were opened they stampeded over anyone who had the audacity to be in their way. I finally got to my destination at the electronics department only to find out that our Walmart only received two of the advertised items in the first place. This alone is not right, in my opinion. However, now they've got me in their store and I can't get out. Every available space is piled high with boxes forming a maze blocking all the customers into a narrow one way lane through the store. No one is about to let anyone around them for fear they may get to the deals before them. Not only was I trapped and couldn't move, I had several people slam me with their carts apparently thinking that it would either make me disappear from their path or force me to climb over someone to get out of their way. I tried to get several employees located in different areas to help me get out of the store to no avail. The employees did not care that people were behaving with mob mentality. They did not care that people were trapped in the store and couldn't get out. I do believe if a fire had started at least half the people in the store that morning would have died; including all the employees who were so unhelpful and didn't care that we couldn't get out. When I was finally freed from my captivity, I came straight home and filed a complaint with Walmart Corporation about the lack of customer support and the dangerous situation caused by their lack of concern and poor planning in their setup. I have never heard anything back from them so I doubt it did any good. All I can say is that Walmart was not on my list of stops this year and probably will never be again. Even if they were paying people to take their merchandise, the price would still be too high for that one lost life. How sad that saving or making those few dollars can make people care so little for others.
Wal-Mart Employee Trampled to Death: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/29/busine...
"One worker, Jdimytai Damour, 34, was thrown back onto the black linoleum tiles and trampled in the stampede that streamed over and around him". People kept shopping! OMG! What is wrong with these people?
I "thought" about going shopping,>>>>>never at Walmart! It was 9:30AM, I finally decide "OK, there must be something out there I need/don't need". One drive through "shoppers alley" >(remember there was a train track and field over there) convinced me I didn't want need any part of that drama. Cars were backed up everywhere.
Crazy making.
Chiliwilli- I wonder if the same group of people who line cut and just squeezed through the doors were the same group of folks who did the same thing at the First Presbyterian Churc Thanksgiving food giveaway. It reminded me of a flock of ravens decending on a Big Mac box, escpecially with all the noise they were making. Some people are just shameful.
THye Shodul clal ti grene friyda
In California two women got in a fight in a toy store and the men with them pulled out guns and killed one another. Hopefully the police will find the Walmart killers and prosecute them to the hilt. Still think garage sales are the best buy in Fairbanks. Go online, great sales, items you'll never find in Fairbanks and free shipping and no crowds.
gave a friend a ride down to the church and someone was complaining that one fellow had gotten 6 boxes that day. hope the foodstamps and welfare checks arent late this month.
Hey DawgMusher. Go smoke some more of that stuff and try again.
At our house, we celebrate Buy Nothing Day on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Spent a nice quiet day watching the birds, walking the dogs, and working on the computer. Our money quietly earned a few cents interest while it was sitting in the bank untouched. Life is good.
Post a comment
Commenting requires registration.