Black Friday, 2011

I can't remember when I started shopping on "Black Friday". Seems like I've been doing it forever. It's like a tradition, just like Thanksgiving turkey. I probably don't need anything I buy on Black Friday, but I can't stand sitting on the sidelines.

I say I don't "need" anything, because I shop all year long. I hate waiting for Christmas to give people gifts. I guess it's a character flaw, lack of patience.

This year I only planned to go to Target for two reasons, #1, it's close to my house and #2 I really wanted new Rachael Ray orange cookware. Do I cook? No, not really, but now that I like my tools, maybe I'll give it a whirl.

Mom and I rolled up to Target at about 12:03 AM. The parking lot was packed and we could still see a line wrapped around the store. But it was the most organized chaos I had ever seen. They let us in about 30 at a time, and everyone moved at a good pace. I headed over to kitchen section and found my boxes on one of the end caps. Uh, there were only 3 in the entire store. I grabbed the 1st one and a dude grabbed the second. Did I mention I had a $50.00 gift card burning a hole in my pocket? Black Friday success!

Since we were already up, we decided to head over to Cool Springs Galleria to see if we could find any decent deals. Victoria's Secret did not have the things I wanted and the line/check-out at Express was HORRIBLE.

Here's my beef with Black Friday shopping. If you're going to go out at midnight, please have a specific game plan and stick to it. For example, these are normally the people wanted to get the big screen TVs or other electronic items. This is not the time for you to browse and get in my way.

As I mentioned before, I shop all year round. I generally know what each store has in stock and what the "normal" prices are. If I shop for clothes on Black Friday, I don't buy it unless it's on sale and I have a coupon. Hence, I know what I want before I even go into the store.

And to the retail stores, please do your best to have your fastest check out clerks or a better system to get the people in and out quickly. You're losing money if we have to wait too long. I know we spent more time waiting to pay than actually shopping.

Here are my Black Friday grades:

Target: A+, the most efficient store of the night

Victoria's Secret, at Cool Springs: B-, your store was way too hot and you did not have what I wanted in stock

Express, at Cool Springs: C-/D+, your set-up was not conducive for the crowds and your check out clerks/system was horrible. The clerks were too slow and should have used a "buddy system" to ring up & take those anti-theft thingys off the clothes and bag them up.

Macy's, at Cool Springs: C, not enough registers open and clerks almost as slow as the one's at Express.