Dedicated shoppers plan to bag some Black Friday bargains
Costco's been selling Christmas trees since late September, and 24-hour Christmas music has been playing on the radio for weeks.
It's all in anticipation of tomorrow.
The holiday shopping season officially begins, with determined deal-hunters lining up in the pre-dawn darkness in hopes of scoring Doorbusters, Early Bird Specials, Mega Deals and Super BF09 Sales.
Today, on Black Friday Eve, here are a few things to think about while digesting your turkey.
• 180 million people will shop on Friday: And they'll spend an average of $386 each, according to blackfriday2009.com.
• We're not all crazy: According to sleepbetter.org, 70 percent of Americans do not shop on Black Friday. For those that do, only 12 percent get up before 4 a.m.
• If 4 a.m. isn't early enough: Stay up late. Shopping begins at midnight at many suburban stores, including the Chicago Premium Outlet Mall in Aurora and Prime Outlets in Huntley. The Huntley mall will give out goody bags with a pair of Jockey pajamas to the first 500 people who show up in their pjs, starting at midnight.
• Stagger on in: Not every store opens early, so be warned. At Deer Park Town Center, for instance, openings are staggered beginning with Caribou Coffee at 4 a.m., The Children's Place at 5 a.m., followed by a handful of stores at 6 a.m. and most clothing stores at 8 or 9 a.m.
• Free coffee. From 12:01 a.m. to noon Friday, McDonald's will offer free 12-ounce coffees to help people kick-start their shopping. And you can get it in the drive-through.
• Social networking deals: Some companies, such as Staples, will use Facebook and Twitter to notify customers about their Black Friday deals. And, not surprisingly, there's an iPhone application that tracks Black Friday deals, created by dealnews.com.
• One shopping strategy: Save time by planning ahead. Blackfriday2009.com, run by Chicagoan Brad Wilson, and blackfriday.info/sales both list Black Friday deals for hundreds of stores.
• Alternative shopping strategy: Sleep in, avoid the pandemonium, laugh at the TV footage of people waiting in long lines, and then pounce on the Cyber Monday deals online.
• Just wondering: When did we stop calling it "The Day After Thanksgiving" and start commonly referring to it as "Black Friday"?
• Why "black"? Black Friday got its name because it's the day retail sales go from being "in the red" to "in the black," and making a profit. Of course, some analysts aren't predicting much in the way of profits for many businesses this year. Happy Red Friday!