Popular belief has it that the Friday after Thanksgiving is the busiest shopping day of the year.
These days many shoppers buy with the holidays in mind all year long. Decorations go up around Halloween, and some Santa Clauses arrive at malls before Thanksgiving. Some shoppers got an early start Thursday at a limited number of stores like Kmart and Wal-Mart Super Centers, which were open on the holiday. To be sure, there are still intense crowds on the day after Thanksgiving — led by the "doorbusters" who show up at dawn for early-bird sales.
"It's one of the busiest days in terms of traffic but not in sales," said Pam Rucker, spokeswoman for the National Retail Federation. "But the mystique is still there."1
"People just want to get out and do something on that day," said Jay McIntosh, director of U.S. Retail and Consumer Products for accounting giant Ernst & Young. "They do because of all of the incentives to shop, but many aren't buying."2 Sales figures spike on the day after Thanksgiving, drop sharply, then steadily increase throughout December. The result is that Black Friday generally ends up ranking as the fifth biggest sales day of the year at most (and sometimes less), behind the four days comprising the two weekends before Christmas.
The day on which holiday sales peak varies depending upon which day of the week Christmas falls upon, but the highest sales day is usually either the last Saturday before Christmas or December 23.
OH MY GOD!!!!!!
Well, well, well. That ought to take the wind out of the Leftist media's "sky-is-falling, the economy is crap!" articles.
Last Saturday before Christmas Eve is my shopping day of choice.
There is no way I'd be out with those day after Thanksgiving blood thirsty bargain hunters. I've seen them on the news and heard about them from family members.
Morning of the Friday after Thanksgiving has by far the highest rate of transactions of any similar 4-hour time frame, mostly due to the hype of loss-leaders. But, no doubt, it is not the most profitable 4-hour period, again because of the loss leaders.
Black Friday isn't significant because it's the busiest day of the year... It is significant because it is the day most retailers FINALLY go into the "black" for the first time during the year. Every sale made AFTER "balck Friday" is their profits.
I haven't seen anything but positive news stories regarding this year's retail sales, with between 10 and 15% increase over last year.
All our family's birthdays are from Feb to April.
I am simply employing some wisdom I have acquired over the years. Waiting until the last moment for complicated and frustrating tasks means that when I DO begin, I execute with a laserlike focus and with amazing efficiency.
Waiting doesn't diminish quality either. All the pieces fall into place at the last moment and the pieces, having been worked on in proximity to each other, fit more snugly.
Finally, waiting until the last moment insures that the maximum amount of mental planning can go into the project before physical effort needs to be employed. More questions are answered and more kinks get worked out.
I considered posting this reply an hour ago, but decided on a deadline of 9:10. I waited until just a moment ago to post my reply. Heh heh...
[Just call me the rational procrastinator.]
Last year at this time I worked at a retail store. Black Friday was ho hum, but the weekened before Christmas was insane.