The battle lines are drawn…
Massive companies like Walmart, Best Buy, Kohls and McDonald’s have effectively declared war on Thanksgiving and, as Phillip Brown says, it’s up to consumers to sort things out. Either we given in and flood the store’s Black Thursday sales today – all but insuring they’ll not only continue in future years but grow – or we draw the line and hold off shopping until, you know, Black Friday.
The choice is ours, and Brown could not have laid it out more plainly.
With that in mind as I began my other Thanksgiving ritual – culling out and recycling the multitudinous ad inserts in my Kansas City Star and Lawrence Journal World newspapers – it came to me; that somewhere in those ads was the dividing line between the good merchants and the bad.
The good, being those respectful of the Thanksgiving holiday and the ritual of families gathering in thanks once a year; the bad being the corporations trampling on America’s most sacred holiday in the interest of getting their mitts on the almighty buck one extra day out of the year. One measly day, for crying out loud.
Look, I know this is hardly a scientific tally, but at least it’s a start.
And hey, why not reward the merchants who waited for Black Friday and punish those guilty of trampling on Thanksgiving?
Now on the tally:
FIRST THE BAD GUYS (BLACK THANKSGIVING)
Walmart Anybody surprised these cats are opening at 6 p.m. today?
K Mart Times are tuff but these greedy bastards are open from 7 p.m. until 3 a.m. How thoughtful of them towards their employees.
J.C. Penney These poor guys just trying to survive – and fighting a losing battle – however opening on Thanksgiving is hardly the answer. I ask you, what would J.C. Penney say?
Target Opening at 8 p.m. tonight; punish them by waiting until tomo.
Macy’s Opens at 8 p.m. tonight, right “after Thanksgiving Dinner,” their ad says. What BS.
Kohl’s Opens at 8 p.m. Thanksgiving. Who really needs to race to this boring retailer on a holiday?
Office Depot Do we really need to save $30 on an Apex tablet at 8 p.m. tonight? Hardly.
Sears Another dying, old school retailer like K Mart & Penney’s; opens today at 8 p.m. Let ’em die another day.
Bass Pro Open Thanksgiving; camp and fish someplace else
Microsoft Store Ad tries to obfuscate it, but website says store at Oak Park Mall opens tonight at 8 p.m. Think of it as the perfect excuse to finally buy that Apple computer you’ve always wanted…on Black Friday at 6 a.m. naturally.
Game Stop Opens at midnight tonight. Could be worse, but that’s still Thanksgiving night.
Shoe Carnival Open 6 p.m. to Midnight today. Seriously, who needs to buy shoes on Thanksgiving Day?
The Legends Opening at 10 p.m. on Thanksgiving is hardly the stuff legends are made of. I say punish ’em.
NOW THE GOOD GUYS (BLACK FRIDAY)
Radio Shack Doors open at 8 a.m. Friday or online today. Give ’em a hand.
Home Depot Open 5 a.m. Friday. Kudos for emphasizing in their ads that they’re closed Thanksgiving
Petco Open Black Friday only. Take you mutt when you go.
Mattress Firm Open Black Friday only. Kudos to the mattress firm, but they already own Labor Day and Memorial Day – two out of three ain’t bad.
Olathe Fiat Black Friday only, for one of the hipper, more earth friendly rides going.
Sheplers Black Friday only, because who buys western wear on a family holiday anyway? That would be totally un-American.
McCarthy Chevy Black Friday only. Hey, Lauren know how to play the game!
Lowes’s Black Friday only; opening 5 a.m. Keeping up with Home Depot.
Nebraska Furniture Mart Even the evil empire is closed for Thanksgiving and opens at 6 a.m. Black Friday. Who needs Best Buy anyway, really?
Hancock Fabrics Opens 6 a.m. Friday. I mean, was anybody really palnning on going fabric shopping on Turkey Day?
Tractor Supply Co. Ditto for this company that I kinda never heard. Hey, at least they’re closed Thanksgiving
Academy Sports Brand new biz by Oak Park, closed today. Wise move.
Cabela’s Opens 5 a.m. Black Friday. Reward these guys with your Bass Pro biz.
La Z Boy Need one of these for the holidays? Then go for it, I guess, @ 9 a.m. Black Friday. But first a word of caution; remember what happened to the smartman on his recliner. Caveat emptor
******* ******* *******
Hey look you guys, sure this is a small step for mankind, but do we really want to see a great American holiday sold down the river by a bunch of greedy, corporate fat cats who otherwise remain unaccountable?
I could be wrong, but I think not.
So reward the businesses that stayed closed this holiday and send a message to the ones that opened.
Did you avoid football as well? All those stadium workers, parking lot attendants, and police officers forced to work. Not to mention the players and the broadcast crews. Oh the humanity.
Off to a hell of a start!
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/11/29/retailers-usher-in-holiday-shopping-season-as-black-friday-morphs-into/
Holy cats! Look at these videos of shopping on Black Friday! Wow!
http://www.myfoxdc.com/story/24094754/black-friday-shoppers-scuffle-with-each-other-police#axzz2lx3UHuo7
The last two were yesterday, but I couldn’t let this one go, it is 2011 in Tulsa at a Victoria’s Secret. I don’t even know what to say.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnu6yZKo7u8
Better get used to it. Either next year or after I predict ALL stores will be open and most likely all day. After I left the movie theater last night around 10pm I decided to drive around. The streets were packed. Target’s parking lot was full and so was Wal-Mart’s. Consumer’s don’t seem care about Thanksgiving tradition. The “good guys” will be forced to open or loose out. It’s all about the mighty dollar. Personally I couldn’t care less.
Went to several Walmarts Friday in the Kansas City area to buy an iPhone 5S, but none of them could complete ANY wireless contracts because their computer link to the carriers was apparently down system-wide. They told us it probably won’t be up until Saturday at the earliest. Maybe it is Karma…
Ruh Roh…,
Was Kathleen Sebellius working the counter? Did someone tell you that if you like your cell phone plan, you could keep your cell phone plan? Did you find out your cell phone bill went up and the flip phone you liked was being replaced with one that would turn on your hot tub from Cabo during off season?
The Affordable Cell Act will be working on November 30th.
To all of those folks, who have struggled so courageously with Obama phones (Yes, I read Paul’s article, a little poetic comedic license here…), you will now get I Phones and the Samsung Galaxies that have been denied to you and your families for so long.
Now, it’s “Just like Expedia!!”
Our electricity went out around noon on Thursday. Thank goodness the power company didn’t close down for the holiday. Kudos to the police, firemen, doctors, nurses, and everyone else who sacrificed all or part of their Thanksgiving to supply essential services to the community.
The retailers are greedy but all the radio and tv stations in town as well as the print media who required staff to work on Thanksgiving are not? In the newspaper business the Thanksgiving day edition is one of the most profitable of the year. I don’t see Hearne campaigning to get rid of that so that all the carriers and drivers get the day off. You want to hasten layoffs, form campaigns to have businesses close on popular shopping days for consumers. Some times when I read stuff like this I wonder if the authors have any concept of the financial realities of this economy.
One other thing I should have mentioned that I will add here is the hypocrisy of many of these “greedy business” articles. Maybe Hearne is the exception, but given his age I doubt it.
Many people in his age group who have even a little savings are invested in stocks and mutual funds. Now unless you are absolutely obsessive in researching which funds you buy and then diligently keep up with every transaction within that fund, you are likely in a fund holding stock in some of the same companies you are criticizing. I find it extremely hypocritical to reap the financial rewards of the same corporate strategies that you are denigrating in public.
Again, I can’t say for sure if that is the case with Hearne, but I don’t know of many people who keep up with their mutual funds to that degree.
I understand Hearne has built a “Chinese Wall” dividing he and his investments in B.C. Christopher so that his commentary on this matter is above reproach.
That is, his wife has all the money.
🙂
Actually, Geroge makes some good points and hats off to the folks he mentions for working on Thanksgiving.