Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Who Moved Black Friday?

In the past Black Friday was the day after Thanksgiving when stores put some of their items at special prices to kick off the holiday shopping season. Then they decided that Friday started at midnight and to get the jump on competition they would open at 12:00 a.m. so they would be the very first to offer their shoppers these special item prices.

Well 2013 rolls around and it is one of those years where Thanksgiving happens much later in the month and there is less than thirty days till Christmas.  So the thought process is to move Black Friday back into Thursday.  Major retailers are going to open sometime on Thursday to start their Black Friday sales.

The thinking is that no one really celebrates Thanksgiving anymore so we might as well shop.  What? One thing is for sure the sales people aren’t given a chance to spend quality time with their families this Thanksgiving.  Do Mega Corporations really need these precious family hours to make a few more bucks?

I don’t know about you but I have been buried in emails (since sometime last week) telling me I don’t have to wait for Black Friday.  I can shop online or at the stores now and still save big.

With all the Pre-Black Friday deals do we still need to open stores at 3:00 p.m. on Thursday?  Seems like that is the way of the big box retailers.  So, does this mean that next year we will have retailers that will open normal hours on Thanksgiving day?

I know that people are already camped out in front of many of the stores in preparation for the big Black Friday (or Thursday) sales. Those ringing cash register (OK, sliding card swipes) will be prove that If You Open They Will Come.

Many of our family and friends do have to work on Thanksgiving day.  They provide necessary services to the community and are truly needed to staff healthcare, power companies and first responder positions.  We all take for granted that our Police and Fire Departments never close. But the retailers just don’t fall into these types of services.

Do to lack of planning some of us will have to buy gas on this coming Thursday and we appreciate the service stations and convenience stores that do stay open.  Many of us have planned our menus well in advance and have carefully done our holiday shopping.  But, we still may find we have forgotten one essential item (maybe two) and hope that one grocery store or so will be open at least limited hours so we can recover from our oversight and put up that special holiday dinner.

To open or when to open is a concern for every business owner.  How do you decide what hours of service and products to you provide to the community?

Don’t forget to support your local businesses on Small Business Saturday (November 30th).

Do you need help with your next print advertisement?  Call MI Printing 623.582.1302 and lets us be your local resource.  Effective communication is what your business needs.

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