Black Friday - Big Letdown

Yeah. I said it. I know, you can't believe it. Me, the huge Black Friday magnet is turning my back on the biggest shopping day of the year. Forever.

Many years ago (like ten, hehe), when WalMart first put out their big Black Friday ad and said their store opened at 5AM for some major huge deals, it was a party! They had cool deals like jersey sweats for $5, really fun kids toys for way inexpensive and practical stuff that could actually be given as gifts. Sure, they probably had a couple of electronics for sale but they weren't the main focus, at least not for me.

Fast forward 10 years. Every single store in town opens at 2AM and has major price plugs on washers and dryers, TV's, stereos, and every other electronic thing you could imagine. And while that's all find and dandy for some people, where are the not-so-electronicy deals anymore? I don't just give OR receive only electronics for Christmas. I guess perhaps these people aren't buying stuff just for Christmas. But that day is my biggest Christmas shopping day and if the stuff I'm looking for can't be found on sale, there's no point going I suppose.

And why do I risk my life when I go into Toys R Us at 3AM the day after Thanksgiving?

I don't. Not anymore. I'm over it. It's just not fun anymore.

Gone are the days when you could be a super spaz and run all over the store collecting your gem-purchases and fly through the check-out line and then be off and running to the next store. We did this many years. Now you'll wait in line for an hour. It sucks.

This year, while I do plan to go out that day, it's not to make it early to some INSANE sale. It's to casually browse around, at a reasonable hour, go to lunch and maybe catch a movie with my sister.

I don't need a bargain that bad.