Sorry Ka-Blog wasn’t updated for a few days. I know that there is no such thing as vacation or Thanksgiving breaks in the online world where blogs live. But after I spent all night Thursday (or was it all morning Friday) talking to shoppers who traded sleep for steep discounts, I had nothing on my mind but shut eye.

I like to shop and I love deals, but there is nothing that is going to lure me outside at 11 p.m. on Thanksgiving to drive to the outlet mall and fight 4 miles of traffic and thousands of people to score a 50 percent discount at Old Navy. That is, except for this gig.

I was amazed by how many people were waiting in the cold for discounts at Puma and Coach. It was below 30!
Tents were pitched outside of Best Buy stores in Maple Grove and Rogers.

I know Black Friday is nothing new, but tents? I know I slept out once for concert tickets but I can’t even remember who was so important to see. INXS? Nirvana? Lollapalooza?

After my Albertville visit, I high-tailed it to Eden Prairie to catch the 1a.m. opening of the Eden Prairie Center. I was surprised to see more 18-25 year olds out than ladies in holiday sweaters with walkie talkies. It was like every Eden Prairie high grad from the past three years came home from college and decided to meet at the Cinnabon. My favorite conversation that night was with a group of guys who were there to watch the “crazies” shop and to complain about how the low prices make them feel like chumps for ever buying anything at full price.

I know I sound like a Scrooge, but I’m sick of the holiday shopping frenzy already! Most of my shopping was done weeks before Black Friday. Stores have practically been giving away merchandise for months now. I mean, Kohls was selling Christmas ornaments at 50 percent discounts on Halloween. Early enough already.

How about you? Do you enjoy the Black Friday, Cyber Monday hub-bub or is it a sign of how consumerism has gotten out of hand, especially at this time of year?

This entry was posted on Monday, November 26th, 2007 at 2:33 pm and is filed under shopping. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.