I asked the question if it was worth it to shop on Black Friday?  The answer appeared to be no.  And apparently after a Walmart employee was trampled to death, I’d have to agree!  But that being said I went shopping on Black Friday.

I went around 10 am to Walmart to grab some jeans, and made it out of the store in 20 minutes.  They weren’t even BUSY!  There was no problem finding parking, I had no trouble trying on the jeans, and there was no line for the registers. I chatted the cashier up and she told me, except for a little bit of excitement and rush at 5 am, shoppers really hadn’t come in.  People were not crazy and the pace of shoppers was SUBSTANTIALLY down from years past.  Wowsa!

At around 4 pm we went to Circuit City to purchase a stereo. I’ll explain that later.  But while there, I again chatted with an employee putting out TVs.  Apparently all day the store had been “slow” for Black Friday.  Last year the time to check out was 4 hours, this year it barely took 30 minutes at 5 am.  Last year all the electronics deals were done by 9 am, this year at 4 pm they hadn’t sold out on pretty much any deal.  You wanted it?  It was still available.  People were looking but not buying.  He said you could tell the economy were weighing on people heavily, even those who came in to make specific purchases.

After that we went home and enjoyed the rest of the weekend going grocery shopping, entertaining guests, and cleaning up.  I have to admit I was a bit surprised how restrained people were in their spending. I bet when the data comes out after Christmas it will be shocking! 

Black Friday, so named because that was the first day when retailers get into the “black”, might have to be renamed Red Friday.  Do you think that the shopping hysteria was lessened?  I think in some ways it was, and in others it was heightened.  I believe people were more cautious about spending, but more hysterical about getting deals, hence the trampling of the employee.  They were more desperate to get a “deal”.

Next week, I want to talk about whether Walmart should be responsible for the hysteria?