The Chit Chat Chit Chat Thread

Figgy1

Figgy1

Well-Known Member
MinnieM123 said:
You do like living on the edge! :jawdrop: I wouldn't go near any large store or shopping area/mall on Black Friday. (Also, I'm glad that the people I buy gifts for, aren't into anything rare or expensive, so I have plenty of time and options for my Christmas list.)

What I miss is back when I was a kid, and my mother, grandmother, and siblings would all ride the subway, and go into large department stores in Boston, the day after Thanksgiving. (No shoppers ever called it Black Friday -- only the merchants/financial people referred to it as that.) The large stores were crowded and all, but had such a festive holiday atmosphere. It was an actual event for us. Part of the fun was looking at all the amazing Christmas displays outside in the dept. store, street-level display windows. We'd always got hot chocolate, too. :hungry:
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We used to go into NYC on Sunday to avoid the Friday crowds. We'd start at Macy's then head over to 5th Ave. to look at all the displays
 
FutureCEO

FutureCEO

Well-Known Member
Figgy1 said:
We used to do Black Friday back before the stupid Thanksgiving openings and once we took the boys to do their shopping after early dinner as we were first stop for family members heading down the shore. Anyhoo both Walmart and Target had full staffing which is why we wouldn't go after the stupid Thanksgiving Black Friday it just felt wrong. I hope the stores don't get back into the earlier and earlier openings as Thanksgiving should be a day off for all but non essential places. I say that as somebody that has no right to gripe when dh has to work holidays.
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I thought stores were closing on Thanksgiving? Anyway, they're forced to be closed here on Turkey Day.

But I want to buy a digital photo frame for people but all of them are expensive for the top rated ones. And a mattress in a box for me.
 
FutureCEO

FutureCEO

Well-Known Member
Figgy1 said:
We used to go into NYC on Sunday to avoid the Friday crowds. We'd start at Macy's then head over to 5th Ave. to look at all the displays
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The last time I was in NYC was 3 years ago at the Rockefeller but I hate the crowds :bawling: but we saw the big green thing that they paint on the ground for the Macy's parade.
 
Goofyernmost

Goofyernmost

Well-Known Member
Figgy1 said:
We used to do Black Friday back before the stupid Thanksgiving openings and once we took the boys to do their shopping after early dinner as we were first stop for family members heading down the shore. Anyhoo both Walmart and Target had full staffing which is why we wouldn't go after the stupid Thanksgiving Black Friday it just felt wrong. I hope the stores don't get back into the earlier and earlier openings as Thanksgiving should be a day off for all but non essential places. I say that as somebody that has no right to gripe when dh has to work holidays.
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I just read that three people were shot (wounded, not sure how serious) yesterday afternoon in one of our fancier malls in Durham. Durham is not the safest place in the world, but they usually confine the gang problems to the parking lot. I almost went there yesterday but decided against it, not at the time of the shooting, I usually go in the morning.
 
Goofyernmost

Goofyernmost

Well-Known Member
MinnieM123 said:
You do like living on the edge! :jawdrop: I wouldn't go near any large store or shopping area/mall on Black Friday. (Also, I'm glad that the people I buy gifts for, aren't into anything rare or expensive, so I have plenty of time and options for my Christmas list.)

What I miss is back when I was a kid, and my mother, grandmother, and siblings would all ride the subway, and go into large department stores in Boston, the day after Thanksgiving. (No shoppers ever called it Black Friday -- only the merchants/financial people referred to it as that.) The large stores were crowded and all, but had such a festive holiday atmosphere. It was an actual event for us. Part of the fun was looking at all the amazing Christmas displays outside in the dept. store, street-level display windows. We'd always got hot chocolate, too. :hungry:
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I like the way you mentioned distinctly "street-level display windows". The neck of the woods I lived in only had street levels. The first time that JC Penney's had a store with two floors people went downtown just to ride up and down on the escalator. (not joking) It was a big deal. I also remember taking our kids to Montreal on St. Catherine Street going into Eaton's that was about 7 floors and I think the kids thought they were at some carnival ride. We had to go up every floor and back down again. They talked about it for days. We also rode the subways from one end to the other. The trains were put in for Expo 67, all the things that Rural people never get to see.
 
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Goofyernmost

Goofyernmost

Well-Known Member
In the course of my history, there was no official or unofficial rush on the day after thanksgiving. At that time, in Vermont, there were blue laws that required all larger retail stores to be closed on Sunday as well. Then along came Black Friday started because merchants wanted to get a jump on the season so would run normal sales to get people in and spending. Then Black Friday became a day that was so hyper that people were getting trampled which wasn't good either. The Pandemic extended the Black Friday sales to try and limit the crowds in the stores which has been made completely unnecessary by Amazons joining the online fray and making it so no one has to go to stores anymore at all. With Amazon the store technically comes to you. I did my shopping that way (not just Amazon) this year and all I had to do was open the door to my apartment and everything was just sitting there waiting for me. Brick and mortar stores are still going to be around, but mostly just for a reason to get out of the house.

Personally, I hate shopping and always have even though I was was the manager of a retail establishment for a couple years followed by 14 years in advertising publishing. Come to think of it that is probably why I hate shopping. With both those professions the busiest time of the year was always the holiday season. Plus there was always such a massive let down the day after Christmas that it was depressing. We would schedule Vacations in January and February because it was so slow in those months***. In the store it was the time to inventory the entire store to determine what our state Inventory Tax would be, what a pain that was but that was when our inventory would be the lowest as well. Bah Humbug!

*** We also did that time to have the opportunity to get the hell out of the sub zero temperatures and waist high snow and meander south to perhaps Florida for a week or so to thaw out.
 
L

Lilofan

Well-Known Member
Goofyernmost said:
I just read that three people were shot (wounded, not sure how serious) yesterday afternoon in one of our fancier malls in Durham. Durham is not the safest place in the world, but they usually confine the gang problems to the parking lot. I almost went there yesterday but decided against it, not at the time of the shooting, I usually go in the morning.
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I've been to Durham, NC, home of prestigious Duke University. There was a student that grew up in the Deep South and continues to live and work there. He said he spent his whole life in the South except for his four years at Duke.
 
Dead2009

Dead2009

Horror Movie Guru
Figgy1 said:
Only 100? That's not too bad;)
Miss You Reaction GIF by GIPHY Studios Originals
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It is when it's 7 in the morning, lol.
 

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