Black Friday just got worse….

For several years, I owned retail stores located inside a local mall. One of the best and worst days of the year for me was Black Friday.  I had to think about it on Thanksgiving. I could not overindulge because I knew that I was opening my business myself the next day at 6 a.m.  This was when the mall opened.  I don't mind getting up early and the craziness that awaited me every year when I walked into the mall was always amusing.

Photo from gsmnation.com

The mall did not require any stores to open until 6 a.m. but the department stores, at least most of them, opened at 4 so by the time that I made it to the mall around 5:45, the parking lot was starting to get filled up.  Once inside, despite most of the stores being closed, it looked like a busy afternoon except for all of the shoppers were wearing sweats and sneakers. There was not a stitch of make up or hairspray on the early morning crazies.  I always cracked up to see friends of mine dashing through the snow  marble tile to grab a bargain on a coffee maker or cashmere scarf.

This seemed crazy enough for me.  Luckily, I'm out of the retail arena (even though black Friday was always a great day for sales and the Holidays were my "bonu$" time of the year).  It seems that some retail stores (and even some malls) have decided to say "F black Friday...lets start on Thanksgiving"!

Wal-mart has decided to start the craziness at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving night. I'm sorry, but I'm certain that the someone will vomit up their huge turkey dinner while dashing to try to grab one of those cheap tvs. Someone will slip on it and sue Wal-mart which probably serves them right for opening on Thanksgiving.

Other stores, for fear of missing any of those precious black Friday dollars, are following suit. Target (8 p.m. Thanksgiving), Best Buy (6 p.m. on Thanksgiving) Sears (8 p.m.), Macys (8 p.m.) Kohl's (8 p.m.) JC Penney (8p.m.)

Old Navy has decided to open at 9 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day. I guess you will look better in their cheap clothes if you skip dinner all together in order to grab some cheap acrylic sweaters. Same with good Old K-mart. They are opening at 6a.m. on Turkey Day.   And purgatory (otherwise known as Toys R Us during the holidays) is opening at 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving.

Some local malls here in Miami  including the Dolphin Mall and Sawgrass Mills are also opening on Thanksgiving.  

Even if you love to shop on Thanksgiving, the thousands of workers who are ,no doubt, grateful to have jobs this year,  can't spend the holiday with their families as they have to show up and sell all the crap to the shoppers.

This is sad and there is probably no going back after this.  This year I will be thankful that I can go to the beach on Black Friday or just sit around my house cursing myself for eating too much the day before. I'm thankful that my husband won't have to work either.   I will not be shopping.   

By the way, while Black Friday may have a few "door buster" deals, I did learn from my years of living working at the mall, that the better bargains actually occur in the weeks afterwards.  The week before Christmas usually has great deals, especially on sweaters, etc.  If you go to the mall when it first opens (exceptions are Black Friday and the days before and after Christmas), it is not crowded and you can get your list filled before lunchtime!