Will Black Friday Put Retailers in the Black?

Posted on | November 28, 2008 | No Comments

The fate of our economy, at least in the near future, depends on the outcome of Black Friday.  Retailers have dressed for the best and braced for the worst–stocking stores with inventory, plastering stores with sale signs and dive-bombing consumer mailboxes with advertisements.

Easy money says Wal-Mart, Costco and other discounters will sparkle when the Black Friday dust settles.  Big department stores, mid-tier retailers and car dealerships are long shots.  Electronics retailers (including Wal-Mart) are a toss up–if they’re offering good deals, they may do well; if they’re trying to save the deals for after-Christmas or day-before-bankruptcy sales, they’ll suffer.

I’m out shopping now and the stores are not nearly as packed as they’ve been in recent years.  I even shopped Wal-Mart and escaped unscathed, especially once the 22 worthwhile items were sold (that took about 7 minutes).

In Target and Wal-Mart, folks seem to linger much longer and buy much less.  The $10 aisles and bins seem extraordinarily popular.

And, it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas is going to be a homemade, sentimental affair.

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