Black Thursday Anyone?

Yes, it’s gone from bad to worse.  It wasn’t enough to open the stores the Friday after Thanksgiving.  It wasn’t enough to open them practically in the middle of the night, at 4 a.m. either.  Now some stores want to open on Thanksgiving night at 10 p.m. or midnight.  What’s next?

There are several guilty stores trying to out sell everyone else with the earlier openings: Target, Best Buy and Macy’s are at the top of the list. Guiltiest of all is Walmart, who wants to open at 10 p.m. Thanksgiving, barely giving employees and shoppers a chance to celebrate and digest their big dinners, before scrambling off to their aisles for presents.  Stores keep trying to outdo one another, get the most sales, before consumers run out of money.  The hell with the holiday, with traditions, with families spending time and celebrating together…commercialism comes first.  Greed for profits has overcome everything we hold sacred.  Let’s sacrifice Thanksgiving for Christmas.  Wouldn’t you rather spend it fighting with strangers for merchandise or waiting on long lines?  Is saving a few dollars really worth it?

If holiday shoppers go along with these changes then it won’t be long before other stores feel compelled to join in.  In fact, the trend will be for stores to stay open all of Thanksgiving, and call it Black Thursday…after the shopping it’ll be a Blue Friday.  That’s it!  “Black and Blue Thursday and Friday” and just forget Thanksgiving altogether.   I know a few turkeys who will be relieved.  

This is pure craziness.  I made the mistake of going shopping on a Black Friday, not too long ago.  Biggest mistake I ever made.  The lines were horrendous and we didn’t find anything…nothing. My girls, who love to shop, looked like deer caught in the headlights.  They were afraid to move through the store.  My poor husband, who tolerates shopping for our sake, just stood there shaking his head.  I’m not sure how long we were there, but it had to be less than an hour.  None of us were cut out for it.  I personally would rather pay full price in an empty store than try to get a deal on Black Friday.  Shop early, shop online, but don’t bother hitting the stores.  I didn’t even see any bargains anyway.

I hope shoppers boycott stores opening this Thanksgiving.  We have to send a message that enough is enough.  How many more of our traditions can commercialism eat up?  It’s not getting any more of mine!  I am staying home and eating my traditional turkey dinner with my family, tell a few stories, laugh and take a nap.  If I have energy left over on Friday, I will go “online” not on line, and see if anything peaks my interest.