If one is to believe the
New York Times, all you Black Friday shoppers out there are miserable, poor underlings forced to leave the comfort of your Thanksgiving tables and stand in line at WalMart in the dark of night with a passel of kids in tow because you can't afford a babysitter.
Meanwhile, the idle rich never leave the comfort of their warm, comfy homes simply because they don't
need to do all that:
Budget-minded shoppers will be racing for bargains at ever-earlier hours
while the rich mostly will not be bothering to leave home.
Toys “R” Us, Wal-Mart, Macy’s, Kohl’s, Best Buy and Target will start their Black Friday sales earlier than ever — at 9 and 10 p.m.
in some instances — with dirt-cheap offers intended to secure their
customers’ limited dollars. A half a day later, on Friday morning,
higher-end stores like Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue and Nordstrom
will open with only a sprinkling of special sales.
Is The Times suggesting that retailers are sacrificing profits to help the lowly, unemployed shopper?
The low-end and midrange retailers are risking low margins as they cut
prices to attract shoppers, while executives at luxury stores say that
they are actually able to sell more at full price than in recent boom
years.
The Times misses the point that stores are opening earlier and earlier, not so much because people have fewer dollars and they're just feeling benevolent, but because they're trying to scoop each other.
It's less of an altruistic move on the part of the big box store than a profit hugging move by savvy retailers.
And those damned rich people! They can stay home and order their cashmere sweaters while tucked under their down comforters using their iPads and their American Express cards!
Meanwhile, many affluent shoppers will avoid the scene altogether, he
said. “The women who are shopping the fourth floor at Saks are not Black
Friday shoppers,” he said.
The Times also misses the point that a lot of those Black Friday shoppers actually enjoy the "sport" of it:
“Those in a more modest income situation are the people who are going to
the Wal-Marts and the Best Buys and the Targets at 8, 9, 10, 11 p.m.
with little kids in tow because they can’t afford a baby sitter,” said
Craig Johnson, president of Customer Growth Partners, a retail
consultant firm. “It’s a very unpleasant shopping experience, frankly,
for a lot of people.”
I know a gal who gets together with her girlfriends and they comb the ads, plot their stops, and fan out. They aren't miserable, poor shoppers having to suffer the indignities of WalMart at midnight while dragging kids behind them. They just like the thrill of the chase.
The Times is simply adding fuel to the OWS fire. The evil, idle rich get to sit home on Black Friday eating bon bons and tallying up their money market accounts while the unwashed masses sit in pup tents in front of a Best Buy in the drizzling rain.
Oh! The unfairness of it all!
(Photo: Henrietta Widsmith/The Shreveport Times)
(More at Memeorandum)
And this.
. Seriously. Topped off with this.
.
in nearly every room in various colors.
was fabulous; some new Stephen King
might be what you need, or maybe a biography
.
I'm not about to get out and do Black Friday. The only thing I'm going out to buy today is dog food and a loaf of bread.
