People say they hate Thanksgiving shopping...

[ssmjlm]

This is the first year we haven't gone to Michael's after dinner, but my mom and I were meh about the sales and don't really need anything.

Driving home from MIL's we passed 2 walmarts. One was barely half full and the other was a mad house. Amazing what a maybe 10mile difference makes.

[nsl]

My SIL has been posting pictures of her and my niece in line at Toys R Us all afternoon. I think (like a lot of things) MM's opinion on the subject is not necessarily the opinion of American society at large.

[keweenawlove]

MIL and I just went out for a little while. Kohls and Target were packed. I have to admit, it was nice to get out of the house for a little while. I'd been in the house all day eating way too much!

[Marmee]

I enjoyed going at midnight. Now my guests have been gone hours & I'm supposed to go out with my friend when she's done with dinner...but it's list the appeal having already opened hours before I get there. Not sure ill go out or not. I'll save $80 though if I do just on 2 items (not super popular so I think will still be there) so it's probably worth it.

[pugz]

I think people won't admit it, but I did an anonymous poll a couple of weeks ago and the majority here weren't going. I think in general we're a poor sample population though as we are all around the same age, income, and obviously internet savvy so online shopping appeals to us!

blame the olds

[grover]

Mil asked me to keep her company tonight and we were at JCPenneys when they opened at 8. It wasn't crowded at all and everyone was really polite.

[ESF]

Wild horses couldn't drag me to a store right now.

Though I'm not sure where they'd meet their greatest resistance from - my steely hatred for the trend, or the weight of my giant, bloated post-Thanksgiving belly.

[RoxMonster]

We drove past WalMart on our way back into town and it was an absolute madhouse! They were spilling over into the next door parking lots and the side street that runs by it. You couldn't PAY me to step inside that mess!

[Mrs.Syntax]

My DH has always been vocally anti-BF shopping (as well as Thanksgiving shopping) but where is he right now? In line at Game Stop trying to get a PS4.

[ellipses84]

I'm a die hard Black Friday shopper and it is part of my family's TG tradition to wake up early on BF. Now that I have a family, I'm really opposed to the TG openings, especially since they keep getting earlier and earlier. Most of the stores opened at 5 or 6 here and that's when we were eating dinner!

When stores started opening at midnight, we tried it and both the outlets and toys r us were so horrible we left without buying anything. Last year I went to Target at 10pm with my mom and it wasn't terrible so going tonight crossed my mind for a split second, but I don't even think their deals were that great for what I need and I refuse to go on principle. I'm going out around 7 or 8 am tomorrow, I will still get great deals and hopefully half the crowds will be gone and at home asleep.

[winnied]

I don't actually know anyone who is a Black Friday shopper so every year I'm shocked at how many people are out and about. Last night we drove by the new outlets near my house and they were SWAMPED.

[bostonmichelle]

I usually go out shopping on Black Friday. Generally I just buy clothes for myself. This year I'm good on clothes so I'm just venturing to cvs and the liquor store. CVS is only because I have coupons for shampoo and extra bucks that go bad this weekend.

[winnied]

Nov 29, 2013 10:03:27 GMT -5 carrotsmakemefat said:

Nov 29, 2013 9:56:46 GMT -5 winnied said:

 don't actually know anyone who is a Black Friday shopper so every year I'm shocked at how many people are out and about. Last night we drove by the new outlets near my house and they were SWAMPED.I

Are the ones by the Harbor open now?

Yup! 

[melmo1122]

I love Black Friday shopping. I don't really go out for anything special but I just enjoy the excitement of it all. I went to kohls last night around 1030 with my sister. Wasn't too crowded and we got some good deals.

[lasagnasshole]

Nov 28, 2013 23:18:22 GMT -5 ESF said:

Wild horses couldn't drag me to a store right now.

Though I'm not sure where they'd meet their greatest resistance from - my steely hatred for the trend, or the weight of my giant, bloated post-Thanksgiving belly.

Seriously.

Yesterday I had:

Waffles and sausage
Mimosas

Swedish meatballs
Pimento cheese and crudite
Garlic sage cashews
Champagne punch

Smoked turkey
Smoked turkey gravy
Cornbread dressing (stuffing)
Mashed potatoes
Salad
Green bean casserole
Beaujolais Nouveau

Pumpkin bread pudding with creme anglaise and bourbon sauce
Pecan pie bar

I could neither operate a motor vehicle nor make any quick movements.  I sat my bloated ass on the couch and watched some Modern Family reruns on USA before going to bed and passing out so hard that I never heard Velociraptor knock over a 2.5-foot speaker in the middle of the night.

[dragonfly08]

My friend told me they went out last night...waited in line a LONG time at Target. Then they hit Walmart, saw the lines at the checkouts, and left without buying anything.

I was in Athleta this morning, and a local bead store this afternoon for non-holiday related reasons and neither place was crowded at all.

[Deleted]

Crowds and lines make absolutely rage-y, so I pass.

My sister and I went to Steinmart at 10am and that crowd was enough for me.

Online shopping forever!

[stealthmom]

Nov 28, 2013 23:10:01 GMT -5 pugz said:

I think people won't admit it, but I did an anonymous poll a couple of weeks ago and the majority here weren't going. I think in general we're a poor sample population though as we are all around the same age, income, and obviously internet savvy so online shopping appeals to us!

blame the olds

Agreed.  For most people on this board the savings aren't good enough.  Actually the savings aren't very good at all, but I don't think the general public researches like the people on this board.

[emisi]

My friends volunteered to babysit while we went to pick up my new car, but they needed to stop at Kohl's to get something first. They got IN LINE to check out at 12:30, and finally checked out at 2:05. No way something would be that good of a deal for me.

[Deleted]

I find all the doorbuster, trampling over people kind of stuff to be gross.

But I can't get it up to care a whole lot about retail workers having to work on Thanksgiving. I think people who are outraged about this probably live in a bubble. Where's all the outrage for restaurant workers, factory workers, service station workers, etc? Every retail worker I know has always worked Thanksgiving to prep for Black Friday. My parents worked in a factory producing consumer goods and they never even shut down for Christmas. I worked in fast food as a teen and had to work on holidays because travelers couldn't make their own fucking coffee at home.

Anyone who is JUST now getting outraged about people working on Thanksgiving obviously should have bursted out of their white collar bubble a few decades ago.

[Deleted]

We went to Wal-Mart at 10 pm on Thanksgiving. ::embarrassed face:: It was completely unplanned, but we were staying at my grandma's house and realized that we forgot to bring our own pillows. Grandma's pillows are 50 years old and offer zero support, so we always wake up with terrible headaches. When we left Waffle House (lol) we decided to just see how WM looked. It wasn't crowded at all, so we went and got our pillows and some other boring, non-BF stuff. (The cashier even pointed out how boring our haul was. Lol) She said the crowds had been insane at 6 pm. The store was littered with empty coffee cups and Coke cans.

So yeah, we are part of the problem. I feel kind of bad about it, but we really needed those pillows!

[sillygoosegirl]

I don't want to speak for anyone else, but what you describe is exactly why I hate it. I'm a new homeowner with a fixer, so it feels like I'm at Home Depot every day I'm not at work, but yesterday I just found other things to work on because I couldn't imagine fighting the crowds to pick up the $20 worth of parts I needed.

[kathybela]

Nov 28, 2013 23:10:01 GMT -5 pugz said:

I think people won't admit it, but I did an anonymous poll a couple of weeks ago and the majority here weren't going. I think in general we're a poor sample population though as we are all around the same age, income, and obviously internet savvy so online shopping appeals to us!

blame the olds

Don't blame us - I don't have the energy required to fight you young'uns for a bargain!!  

In all seriousness there isn't a bargain worth having to wait in line and fight crowds for it, I'd much rather give my money to a small local business.

I'm biased on this whole opening on holidays though because here in most of Ontario our businesses don't open on statutory holidays. At Christmas everything in my city (except corner or drug stores) close at around 5:00 on Christmas eve and don't reopen until December 26th - even fast food and coffee shops.