Just in case the rest of the world didn’t think we were a bunch of greedy, materialistic, pieces of shit…American consumers and retailers are upping the level of disgusting behavior….
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Attention,
Holiday Shoppers: We Have Fisticuffs in Aisle 2 – New York Times
Customers behaved badly across the country yesterday, but the mayhem can be traced in part to an escalating battle among retailers to be the first to open their doors and offer the steepest must-have deals.
Many merchants angered shoppers by trumpeting huge discounts — like $70 portable DVD players and $600 flat-screen televisions — only to announce they were sold out moments after they opened.
The fact that so many people were sleep-deprived probably didn’t help.
It was the earliest Black Friday on record. Trying to one-up its rivals, CompUSA started its annual Black Friday sales at 9 p.m. on Thursday, just as many Americans sat down for Thanksgiving dessert.
A dozen malls, from Utah to Maine, opened at midnight. And Wal-Mart, Best Buy and J. C. Penney began ringing up sales at 5 a.m. (A 6 a.m. opening at Target seemed so 2005.)
A final tally from yesterday’s sales will not be available until tomorrow, at the earliest. But retail executives, who were constantly checking sales figures on their BlackBerrys yesterday, said the numbers suggested that the holiday season was off to a strong, if uncivil, start.
“I have not seen a crowd this size in years,” said Terry J. Lundgren, the chief executive of Federated Department Stores, after surveying the lines outside Macy’s Herald Square at 5:30 a.m.
