Black Friday

Is it just me, or has Black Friday lost it's true fun?

Hear me out.

For starters, I don't now too many people who actually go out to shop first thing, anymore. And that's the thing... "first thing" no longer means 6am, like it did when I was young... it means Thanksgiving night, or midnight, or something so NOT Black Friday (in some cases, quite literally NOT Friday). Not only that, but the scouring of the ads while the turkey is in the oven has gone away, too... not only do the ads get delivered separately on WEDNESDAY (at least up here they do), but you can find them online days, or even weeks, before Black Friday actually occurs.

And, yes, online shopping has become a HUGE factor! Sure... you still have special deals, but you don't have to literally fight for them. You just have to be the first 500 (or whatever the number is) to click 'buy' and check out with your virtual shopping cart. I remember quite a few Thanksgivings back where I didn't go home and spent the entire day getting ALL my shopping done online!

True, some retailers have wised up and have something things available only at stores, or only online. But the bottom line is, the 'deals' you find on Black Friday aren't as big of a deal as they used to be. Quite often, it's the same big 10 gifts that are popular, and all retailers, in some form or another, have a deal on it... so it comes down to which is the deal for you. Straight discount? Gift card to that store that is essentially a straight discount because you shop there all of the time? A buy one, get one, scenario?

*sigh*

I remember my sister and I getting up early to go to one of the outlet malls a few hours away to get some deals. We actually had fun doing that. Sure... half the stuff you buy ends up being for you... but it was still fun to do.

This year, Eric and I stayed up a little past midnight to catch some online deals, then we had a normal Friday morning. I eventually got online and bought a bunch of the Black Friday deals that were at a few of the stores... but I was buying things that I knew I wanted to get for people, and wasn't really tempted by any of the gimmicky stuff or that shiny thing on the end cap. In the afternoon, we went and picked up one of those deals in the store (they had it waiting for us at the counter), and proceed to wander to one of the malls. We didn't buy a thing while we were there. Which I'm still baffled by - very unlike me, because I love just abut every store in this particular mall. But we did scope something out and, literally, went home and bought it online with a better discount. And then I proceeded to do some more online shopping.

So is Black Friday even Black Friday anymore? A bunch of stores opened up at 6pm on Thanksgiving with Black Friday Doorbusters, even though it wasn't even Black Friday yet. A lot of retailer even claim in advertisements earlier in November that, "These Deals are better than Our Black Friday Deals." Traditions of family members going shopping together on Black Friday on going away, just because there's other options now. So how long before the term "Black Friday" actually goes away? Do retailers really have to wait until then before their annual sales hit the black anymore? Or do they really hit it now on Cyber Monday?

Oh, well. I guess that's for the masses to decide. I kind of like Small Business Saturday more now, anyway. Of course, when you have some of the cool local retailers like we have here, it helps. Funny thing is, that has been made popular by a corporate giant (American Express). But at least you can respect them for this move.