| Black Friday Gold Rush |
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Black Friday Gold Rush
At 4:00 a.m. on Friday November 23rd, the young, the bold, and the bargain hunters rushed the doors of Best Buy, Kohl’s and J. C. Penney’s to secure the first treasures of the 2007 Christmas shopping season. Many of these shoppers had been camping out in Paducah for hours in the cold waiting their chance to make the run into the bargain tables before anyone else.
These early shoppers came for the $399 Dell lap top computer; 250 early bird specials at Kohl’s
(sale items only good from 4 AM to 1 PM);and the half price 46 inch Aquos LCD HDTV at $999.99 (regular price $1899) at Sears. These were just a few of the items meant to lure the early Christmas shoppers on Black Friday.
The rush for consumer gold was on.
According to ShopperTrak RCT Corp., which tracks sales at more than 50,000 retail outlets,
total sales rose 8.3 percent to about $10.3 billion on Friday, November 23, 2007, compared
to $9.5 billion on the same day a year ago.
The importance of these figures was put into perspective by Bill Martin, co-founder of ShopperTrak. Martin said, “This is a really strong number. You can’t have a good season unless
it starts well.” Martin added to this thought, “It’s really encouraging. When you look at September and October, shoppers weren’t in the stores”.
Even with the high sales figures, several of the retail giants cautioned that it was still very early
in the seasonal retail business. The 2007 Christmas season has many challenges for would-be shoppers in their search for the perfect gifts. These challenges include: (1) high gas prices (2) job loss or fear of job loss (3) depressing news about the War (4) feeling of uneasiness for the future regarding going into more debt, and (5) fear of how the housing crisis will impact their lives in 2008.
To meet many of these consumer challenges, several of the nation’s major retail giants opened up at 4 AM, an hour earlier then last year. The extra hour was devoted to extreme, time limited, big ticket sale items. This was a market sign of desperation to lure shoppers.
Across Kentucky, the story was the same. The large daily newspapers in Paducah, Hopkinsville, Madisonville, Owensboro, and Bowling Green all contained several pounds of advertising directed only toward Black Friday sales.
The Louisville Courier Journal had 48 sales inserts for the post Thanksgiving specials. Many of these stores also advertised in the Paducah Sun.
1. Sears (48 pages)
2. Kohl’s (56 pages)
3. Best Buy (12 double size pages)
4. JC Penny (40 pages)
5. Macy’s (68 pages)
6. Linens-n-things (12 pages)
7. Dillard’s (8 double size pages)
8. Shoe Carnival
9. Office Max
10. Meijer
11. Lowe’s
12. Murphy’s Camera
13. Friedman’s Jewelers
14. Havertys
15. Circuit City
16. Bed Bath & Beyond
17. Bass Pro Shops
18. Game Stop
19. Dick’s Sporting Goods
20. Santa’s Ornament Shop
21. CVS Pharmacy
22. LifeWay Christian Stores
23. Walgreens
24. Verizon
25. Office Depot
26. Staples
27. Old Navy
28. The Home Depot
29. AT&T
30. Michaels Arts
31. Sam’s club
32. Radio Shack
33. hhgregg
34. Pix Shoes
35. Target
36. K Mart
37. Pepboys Auto
38. Burlington Coat Factory
39. Ashley Furniture
40. JC Penny 2nd item (64 pages)
42. World Market Stores
43. Big Lots
44. Toys-R-Us
45. Rite Aid
46. Sleep Outfitters
47. Feeders Supply
48. Value City Furniture
For these retailers, this shopping season will be important to keeping their stock holders happy and protecting their base going into the projected turbulent 2008 retail year. This Christmas season may very well be the first wave of economic news framing the health of corporate America in 2008.
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