After last years madness at Target at 6am on Black Friday, I swore I would never go out shopping on Black Friday again. We went to target in Chandler Arizona to get DVD's for practically pennies. There was a list that my brother and J wanted to buy so we went to see what we could get our hands on. The place was beyond capacity and people were pushing and screaming. They had these aisles full of DVD's and people were grabbing every which way to get their hands on a DVD. All I remember is screaming, I found "Knocked Up" to my brother and J who were three aisles over, grabbing at DVD's themselves.
When we made it out with only bruises and a bit of accidental assault we found our way to the check out register where we waited for another 20 minutes in line. The total cost of the steal of a deal DVD's wasn't nearly worth the time or suffering we had endured. That morning on November 27th, 2008 I swore I would never participate in Black Friday shopping again.
Well...Never Say Never, because that didn't happen. I ventured out at 5:00am this year for a little Black Friday shopping experience. I wanted to go to Victoria's Secret to get the free bag with products in it if you spent $60. I didn't have a problem spending the money, as I had a list of things I wanted to buy for myself and others for Christmas. I woke up at 4:50 and drove straight over to VS, where it was CLOSED. The store didn't have any hours of when it would be open, so I checked online on some blogs and read some different times people had been saying. The VS I went to was not in a mall, but in an outside shopping center. The shopping center was vacant, so when I pulled up at 5:00am and the parking lot was empty I was upset. I had no idea when they were going to open. I thought maybe 6:00 am, so I went over to the Sports Authority in the shopping center across the street.
Sports Authority opened at 5:00am, so I stocked up on some Door Busters! I bought a bag of 20 Penn tennis balls for the dog for $4.99! A steal of a deal. I bought J a new official size Nike NFL football for $10! And I bought a sleeping bag that could endure 30 degree low weather temps for $9.99! And a fanny pack for our DisneyLand adventures later that day. I was pretty happy with my purchases.
Afterwards, it was only 5:30 and VS probably wasn't opened yet, so I walked over to Target and looked for some door busters. I decided to not impulse buy and there wasn't anything we really needed. Except for the big screen TV that J insists we need. Except he is only buying a Sony Bravia, so those other cheap knock-off brands at Wally World or Target won't cut it. I decided I didn't need a mini slow-cooker or blender or toaster for $5 and $10, I already had all those.
So I drove back over to VS shopping center, and this time saw a few more cars in the parking lot. There were 2 cars parked in front of VS store front, so I got really excited that they might be opening at 6. I waited in my car with the other women patiently waiting in their cars. This time there were some employees in the store working, so my hope went up! Then, 5:59 came, and the doors were still locked. Then, another car pulled up with two girls in it. Then, 6:00 came, and no one came to open the doors. Then, it was 6:07 and still no one opened the doors or went in. Then, I thought maybe the doors were unlocked and I should just go try the door. Then, a couple of ladies came walking by the outside store front and they stopped to peak inside the store. They wandered around the store front, and finally yelled into the windows at the employees to ask what time they open. The lady yelled back 8:00 to make sure she had heard the employee correctly, and then my heart sank and broke into a million pieces. I had woken up at 5:00 thinking a store would be open and then I wasted an hour driving around and shopping to not even get to shop in the original store I wanted. I was pissed.
I drove home immediately, and got back into bed. Then, at 6:30 the alarm went off. It was time to go to DisneyLand. I had not gotten my VS free bag with products and I had lost out on 2 hours of sleep. I was beyond pissed. J promised me that on our way out of town we could stop at the mall and go to the VS there, in hopes I hadn't missed out on the opportunity for the free bag!
Luckily, we made it to the mall by 8:00am and I was able to secure my free bag at VS with all the contents inside! The mall had opened at 6am and so did the VS at this location. Now I know for future reference to go to the Malls instead of the stand alone outdoor shopping centers, because the stores open earlier.
I'm not going to swear I won't go out shopping on Black Friday again, because we all know what happened last time I said that. I also noticed that I was the only person out shopping without a shopping buddy or partner when I went solo at 5:00am earlier that morning. I think my moral and spirits would have been higher had I been with my shopping partner, my husband J, to laugh off the whole situation. Maybe next year....
No comments:
Post a Comment