Thanksgiving is not just for eating and spending time with family anymore. It is now a major shopping holiday that draws people out from their homes in the search of major discounts.
Black Friday, which is the day after Thanksgiving, marks the start of the holiday shopping season. Many products are marked down from their original price in the range of 20 to 50% off. Bargain shoppers take this day seriously. Websites have been dedicated to Black Friday and have all the information on every sale, including store hours and product lists. Some of these Black Friday websites even offer online sales on Black Friday.
People line up outside of stores for hours Thanksgiving night awaiting the sales. Traditionally, stores would open their doors at 4 am to crowds of people waiting to snatch up deals. However, 2011 marks the first time that many stores opened their doors at midnight.
Shoppers were drawn to Target for various reasons. Ole Miss graduate Mike Lawson took full advantage of the discounts. “I’m here because I recently got married and my wife told me I’m too old to get a video game system. So, I came out to get one for $150 and justify it by saying that it is a Blue Ray player.”
Target is one of the many stores that decided to open their doors to the public at midnight. People were lined outside the Dunwoody store as early as 10 pm to ensure they got full advantage of the discounts. The patient customers were lined up in front of the store by the hundreds. Many brought lawn chairs and blankets to be comfortable as they waited. The crowd continued to grow as midnight drew closer.
Target manager, Ross Baker, passed out store maps to customers and explained the procession into the store. “We plan to let groups of 20 in at a time. They will be required to be in single file and there will be a minute gap in between each group. We are trying to avoid a stampede into the store.”
Police were patrolling the crowd to make sure no violence took place. In the past, many injuries have occurred on Black Friday due to the mass of people and the rush into the stores. The police chief shared, “We are taking every measure to ensure the safety of all the shoppers and to maintain the order.”
As the doors opened, the crowd became much more alert. The procession into the store was orderly, but once inside the store it was chaos. The aisles were flooded with customers scavenging around for discounts.
Baker shared, “We do all we can to keep the order outside the store but once the customers are inside it is a free for all.”
No comments:
Post a Comment