Black Friday thought

I'm not much of retail store shopper, but I'm still interested in the Black Friday hype. It started two years ago (our first in Arizona) when I was building a new computer for Ashlee. I almost started on it earlier in the fall but decided to wait and see how good the deals were. Ever since then I try to hold off on buying anything electronic in the fall and I encourage others to do the same. I don't go to stores at 5am, but I do head to newegg or other online retailers and check out their prices. 

Anyway, I wanted to share a little observation and discussion from this year's festivities. Best Buy started their sales at midnight. We left for dinner in Apache Junction around 1pm and the Best Buy store in the mall by our house already had a line with tents set up. When we coming home at about 10:30 pm the mall parking lot was pretty full. 

Now, consider that Ashlee and I have always been fortunate enough to spend Thanksgiving with family. In Sheridan Ashlee always ate with the entire Harnish gang with 20 or more attendees. I always ate with my parents, of course. During our years in Pittsburgh we would travel to Ohio to spend the holiday with my uncle Kurt and his family. Now we go to Apache Junction to feast with Ashlee's aunt Wanda and uncle Pat. Also, Ashlee's favorite meal is the tradition Thanksgiving spread. In short, we love Thanksgiving and we've looked forward to it every year for as long as we can remember.

So, to see people camped out on the Best Buy sidewalk at 1pm seems crazy to us. We would never consider doing that. No deal could be good enough to cause us to forego all the normal Thanksgiving fair, right? Well, not everyone has the same perspective that we do. Many people don't have family within driving range. Many people can't take the time and/or money to travel by air. Some people don't like or know how to cook turkey and everything else. Those good deals might look pretty good to people in these situations.

I don't mean to boast or be critical of anyone. We're happy spending our Thanksgivings the way we do, but I realize that not everyone can or would event want to spend his or hers the same way. I don't blame the retailers for opening at midnight or 9pm. People were obviously willing to show up at those times this year. It's good for the economy for people to be spending money, so I'm not going to say people should stay home or off their computers. That being said, I, for one, will not be skipping turkey and pie for any Black Friday deals.