Black Friday Frenzy

Tramplings and fist fights and screaming galore

That's the hellish Black Friday we've come to adore.

You don't have to keep track of the mayhem amount -
Just head on over to Black Friday Death Count.

Countdown to Black Friday

BFAds.net guides you to Black Friday ads as they are made available. This year seems to be getting underway early, with Half Price Books already posting their deals.

The site also provides information on store opening times - which seem to get earlier every year, often before the pumpkin pie is served!

Happy Capitalistic Thanksgiving...oh, and Happy Halloween too!

Black Friday Mania

Black Friday started early this year, with idiots shoving, threatening, even assaulting to get what they want. They skipped time with family (maybe not such a sacrifice), dinner, even football, to line up in bitter cold for cheap flatscreens, Michael Kors purses and toys that will be discarded by New Year's Day. Seriously guys, it's not worth it!

I Said No Cuts!

Remember Me to Herald Square

Halloween's Black Friday Equivalent

The day after Thanksgiving - or more accurately, later that night - everyone piles into the hybrid SUV with the now-defunct election bumper sticker and heads to the mall for the Black Friday sales. For many people, post-holiday shopping is more important than the holiday itself. Turkey? Feh, not interested. They're too busy scrolling through the Black Friday ads and making a plan of attack for 5:00 a.m.

I am not one of these people. While I love a bargain, I do not love a bargain more than I hate being with other people. Seriously, I run a website called "Hellish Holidays" - do I sound like someone with unconditional love for her fellow man? Of course not. I am someone who prefers shopping online and going to the grocery store mid-morning. I live for the reverse commute (not that such a thing exists any more in Los Angeles) and sitting next to an empty seat on an airplane (something else that doesn't exist any more).

But there is one post-holiday sale I cannot resist, and it is the November 1 candy extravaganza. On Halloween, while my son parcels out Fun Size whatever-I-had-a-coupon-fors, I scan the ad circulars of the local chain drugstores and supermarkets. I prioritize and plan. And the morning of November 1, I set my alarm and go. If I found a line outside of CVS, I would wait in it. Because through that automatic door is candy. And not just any candy - half-price candy! The most delicious kind of candy you can buy!

There aren't many kinds of candy I don't like. Over the years I have even learned to love the Almond Joy bar, and I'm not crazy about coconut or almonds. It could be because the song from my youth ("Almond Joy's got nuts - Mounds don't") still rings in my head the way Shakespeare and Emily Dickinson never could.

Naturally I have my favorites - black licorice All-Sorts (no one ever gives that), Butterfingers, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. But really, I'll eat anything that's 100 calories a bite. I feel about candy the way Jerry Seinfeld did when he was a kid. Apparently he got over it. But I didn't.

The Black Friday Price Match

In response to having their stores used as showrooms by consumers who then by online for less, brick-and-mortar retailers are fighting back. 

Target will match online prices at Amazon, Wal-Mart, Best Buy and Toys R Us. The program will run between November 1 and December 16.

Best Buy will price-match 20 online retailers this holiday season, as well as offering free shipping on items not available in stores. The new policy, likely to go into effect starting Sunday, November 4, will not be in effect the week of Black Friday through Cyber Monday. A more critical caveat: Best Buy customer service representatives are permitted to honor the policy at their discretion.

Get ready for some hellish tales. Price-matching can be awkward, and staff training critical. Let's hope Target and Best Buy are holding classes now!

Black Friday Sales

It's never too early to start planning for Black Friday mayhem. Believe it or not the Black Friday ads are starting to trickle out; more will be posted as they are available.

Southeastern U.S. discounter Fred's has a 45-item Fred's Super Dollar Black Friday ad along with a 4-page Fred's ad. Their Black Friday sale starts at 5am and is one-day only. The four released pages represent pages 17-20 of the Fred's advertisement. 

Let's hope when we see the word "doorbusters" it doesn't actually mean Black Friday crowds will actually be breaking down the doors to get inside. But it wouldn't be the first time Black Friday caused in-store breakage.

Harbor Freight has a 35-item Black Friday ad and a 4-page ad.

Worth noting: Harbor Freight is letting their Inside Track Club members ($30/yr for membership) enter the store a full hour before regular customers (6am vs. 7am). Hope this does not become a trend among other stores!

Black Friday 2011 (Videos)

It wasn't just about one pepper spraying incident. At Walmarts around the country - and one deadly Target - Black Friday really was dark.

Black Friday 2010 (Videos)

Black Friday: It's a jungle out there. Save yourself some sleep, skip the parking nightmare and avoid the crowds: Shop Amazon's Black Friday Week.


You Got Hit? Hysterical!



After nine hours in sub-freezing Utah temps, they finally got inside to buy their…dolls and candy.

Based on a True Story…



Grandma’s been there, and her memory’s obviously good!

Waiting for the Fighting to Begin



Meet some Minnesota shoppers. LOTS of Minnesota shoppers.

Gonna Fly Now!



Having a successful Black Friday takes a certain amount of prep work. See the original this satirizes below.

Targeting Black Friday



Originally published November 28, 2010.

The Twisted Psychology of Black Friday (Videos)

Black Friday Best Buy Style

Geek Squad Agent White neglects his post to offer rude commentary on Black Friday . It is 5:30am and there is a mob of people rushing in--and yet somehow not rushing fast enough to satisfy him.

Black Friday: Target

How badly do you want that DVD player? How about waiting all night outside in the cold? Seven hours in a sleeping bag on the pavement outside a shopping center is...well, crazy!

Black Friday At Wal-Mart

Here's what it's like walking through Wal-Mart about 10 minutes after the doors opened for Black Friday 2006. Note the amount of stuff in those shopping carts!

Black Friday at Circuit City: Run!

And the race is on! Black Friday 2006 was an indoor marathon.

Wouldn't You Like to Be a Pepper Too? (Videos)

Black Friday 2011: Apparently inspired by UC Davis security techniques, a woman used pepper spray to get an Xbox 360 at half price. The most shocking part: she checked out and disappeared despite being "captured" on countless cell phone videos and leaving a wake of 20 injured shoppers.

The Inspiration?

Black Friday 2009 (Videos)

If this year is anything like 2009, here's what you can expect. Good luck out there!

Black Friday Trampling

White Girl, Black Friday (Rap)

Waste of Time

Amped Up Target Crowd

Black Friday Sagas

Do you have any hellish Black Friday stories? If so, we'd love to hear them. This year, though, we recommend staying home and using Amazon.com. Carey Hart of BLASTmedia in Indianapolis tells a hellish – yet typical – Black Friday tale.

A couple years ago, I made the mistake of being a Black Friday shopper, and dragging my boyfriend along with me. Poor guy, it was our first major holiday together and I nearly ruined it!

We live in Indianapolis, and there is a big outlet mall about 40 minutes south of the city. I normally NEVER go shopping on Black Friday, and have no idea what was going through my head that year. Regardless, I had heard that the outlet stores were having amazing sales that day, and they opened at the ungodly hour of 3 am. So we made the trip down the interstate.

We ended up getting stuck in the absolute worst traffic of all-time, in the middle of a winter night. We were stuck on the interstate, with no opportunity to turn around and no exits for at least 3 hours. It was absolutely awful.

When we finally made it to the mall, the parking lot was equally insane and we had to walk really far. I didn't want all our suffering to be for nothing, so I still shopped – and waited in even more lines! The line for the Coach store was out the door and down the sidewalk, but I persisted. The bargains were OK, but not that great. What was I thinking? I still have no idea, and three years later, the thought still makes my boyfriend and me both cringe. It was, by far, the worst shopping trip of our lives!