Before I could even get to all the Black Friday advertising inserts in Thursday’s paper, I had to get past this ridiculous promotion from Forever 21, which occupied a whole page in the A section.
Funny, but I wasn’t too inspired to spend buckets of money on cheap women’s clothes by a model who looks like the girl from “The Grudge” glaring at me like a demon seed.
Yet another reason why this store doesn’t fit in with our Central Coast sensibilities … if you needed another.
After getting over this initial trauma, I did scope out some potential buys to target during a couple hours at Madonna Plaza on Friday and then a few more around the North County on Saturday.
Here are some observations from two days out and about on the biggest retail weekend of the year:
- Some of the stores were quite busy with long lines stretching down aisles and around corners. To their credit, management handled the rush very smoothly and even the imposing line at Best Buy didn’t last more than 10 minutes.
- I’m convinced that this county is among the best places to tackle the Black Friday experience, because even “busy” here isn’t all that busy. We didn’t have trouble finding a parking spot, for example.
- At Costco, the crowd was no larger than on a typical Saturday afternoon. In fact, it might have been smaller. We walked right up to the register with only one person ahead of us.
- Most notable Black Friday purchase in our group? Sony Blu-ray players for $125 at Costco, HDMI cable included. The price was better than the same model, no cable at Best Buy.
- Shopping with kids on this day isn’t among the wisest ideas. They slow you down, have a penchant for wandering off and want to get every potential Christmas present RIGHT NOW! We bribed them with one bargain-bin video game and a few churros. This prevented shopping mutiny from the under-10 set.
- If you aren’t inclined to brave the Black Friday crowds, try the following Saturday morning. A lot of the deals are still in effect, assuming stuff is still in stock, but there was virtually no one up and about.
- At 10 a.m., Home Depot in Atascadero was a virtual ghost town. How empty was it? So empty that you could actually find a clerk to help you find something immediately. On the down side, the $99 propane patio heater was out of stock, but it was out of stock at 2 p.m. in San Luis on Friday also. Must have been a hot item. Ha-ha.
- Kohl’s likewise was very mellow on Saturday, again no different from a typical weekend, except that they were also offering many 15 percent early bird discounts. Tack that onto the 15 percent discount card I got in the mail, and the savings start to add up. Had I spent more than $50, they also would have given me a $10 certificate to use on another visit. I’ve got my money-savings strategies at Kohl’s down to an art form. And this was a day after using the $10 sticky note coupon that was on the front of The Tribune on Thanksgiving.
- Even lunch wasn’t a hassle. We walked right up, ordered and got a table right away at Sushi Kokku.
That’s my report from the shopping front lines on Black Friday. How was your experience?
Share your stories here.
I went downtown in the mid-afternoon. Only hit up a few stores. They were all busier than normal. Had lunch at Louisas’s Place around 2:15PM, and it was also busier than usual. Overall, nowhere was that bad, though.
I didn’t spend one red penny. I refuse to get caught up in the commercialization of Christmas. We will be baking cookies for all our neighbors, friends and relatives. Christmas isn’t about buying “things” just because the retailers say it’s the thing to do.
A friend of mine who worked retail this weekend said that the early morning and late night crowds were the biggest. By afternoon, he said, the store was basically a ghost town.
I tend to boycott Black Friday on principal. I don’t need the stuff and I don’t need to spend the extra dough. Plus, many retailers now offer great deals before and after Thanksgiving weekend in an effort to minimize holiday season hubbub.
I went to Home Depot at 7am for their 99 cents poinsettias. They were sold out, except for one sickly looking one at the paint desk. They were advertised as in a 6″ foil wrapped pot. The 99 cents poinsettias were not foil wrapped, but simply had a clear plastic bag around a cheap plastic pot with drainage holes, and were smaller than other 6″ poinsettias that were foil wrapped and selling for $5.98. I felt misled and ripped off, as did others who were about to pick up 10 or so until I pointed out to them what I had found out. Conveniently stacked in a cart were some cheap plastic pots selling for $3.97 and advertised as “poinsettia pots.” I guess those 99 cent ones would have really wound up costing $4.96, since you had to put them in something. Never again Home Depot!
If you want to support local students and have your choice of a huge variety of poinsettias check out the Cal Poly plant shop on campus. They won’t be 99 cents but they will look good.
She kind of looks like a cheesed off Natalie Portman.
Yeah, she does. A cheesed-off Queen Amidala.