For starters Black Friday: How To Avoid The Busiest Shopping Day Of The Year!
What is Black Friday?
Probably the most popular shopping day of the year, the day after Thanksgiving (Friday) is called “Black Friday” because it’s the day most retailers don’t seek profit (in red on earnings data). Data in “The Black” in Earnings In general, I love Black Friday, but with the birth of my new baby, it doesn’t seem practical for me to get up at 4:00 in the morning to get these great deals!
This is the strategy I used to get everything on my wish list.
1. Get the ads: Online or the day you appear in the newspaper, get all the ads from the newspaper and sit down with your pen and paper. Remember that not all ads are often found in rural retailers, so if someone is missing from the store you want to shop at, you can probably go online and pick them up directly from their website.
2. Advertise to advertise, circle the items you like most. Remember that many stores will offer the exact same items for sale, so compare prices. I use a 3 x 5 card to list each store on every card I want for that store. If you want easy navigation in the store, group them by the department.
3. Record store opening hours on each card. The strategy is to go to the stores that open first, and so on, so you can get the best deals to check my source as soon as they are available.
4. The day before the sale – Arrange your clothes, wallet, tickets, quick breakfast bar, or any other item so you can have breakfast before you leave or on the go. Remember that it can be very cold at 4 am. Where you live, wear warm clothes. Avoid heavy coats (layers) if possible, as you will not have room in the basket to store coats and there will be very hot waiting periods in these rows.
5. Sales Day: Hit the road with your best buyer. It works best with a friend.
6. Hit the first shop first. Try to arrive at least 10 minutes before the store opens. You may have to wait in line but go inside. Don’t push or pay other buyers when you open the door. In fact, if it’s too much for you, back off a bit and let the more aggressive buyers pass first. I usually wait for the flight to arrive, and pick it up if there are already one or two buggies in the parking lot! There will be a crazy rush of the shopping cart which will cause the biggest confusion. (Sometimes the wagon runs out.)
7. Go to each item on your list. Most of the good advance sales (listed to open until 11 am only) are probably in the aisles for easy access. If you find something on your list difficult to reach (due to congestion or narrow streets) ask one of you to wait near the car and the other to pick up the item. This teamwork approach works great for division and victory.
8. When you’re done, try to put all the items in one cart and make your way to the checkout line. One of you waits in line while the other walks around the store looking for any missing deals. Check it out and go to the next store on the list!
9. Don’t forget to have breakfast, coffee, and bathroom breaks as needed. Don’t let the experience disappoint you! After all, you are doing an amazing job.
10. And last but not least, don’t forget the gift receipts! This is important if you are applying for a waiver.
If you come home and want to do business online, many stores will have some or all of these items for sale online! You may find that this approach works best for items where you only have to get one item from the retailer and is not specifically served during the “morning morning” window.
Once you have a plan in mind, shopping can become a favorite holiday shopping tradition. Good job everyone!
