<p>I feel like I’m missing out by not shopping. I haven’t been to a mall in years, and I don’t think I’ve <em>ever</em> bought anything from a mall.</p>
<p>^^ samiamy, I remember when the Green Acres Mall was really nice. I bought my first wedding dress there.</p>
<p>Even at Costco, they were surprised about the rude & large crowd of over 400 people. They have plenty of supply & nothing sold out, tho someone was waiting about 7 or 8 am & the store didn’t open for hours. I personally don’t understand it and it is a senseless tragedy that folks are injured in the shopping frenzy. Personally, I didn’t see anything in any ads that seemed all that exciting but that is really beside the point–wouldn’t be part of a large crowd regardless. </p>
<p>I am so sad and sorry that our society has these types of events–beyond my understanding.</p>
<p>Wow, that was at Green Acres? I practically grew up in that mall! It was for sophisticated folks who didn’t want to shop on Jamaica Avenue! And you couldn’t be that drive in theatre in our Rambler station wagon…</p>
<p>If starving people were stampeding for food, you could understand their determination and desperation. But, it is unimaginable that overfed Americans would stampede for a Wii or whatever else might provoke people to turn into stampeding maniacs, desperate for another thing to purchase. And yes, I do think this behavior is driven by insatiable consumerism.</p>
<p>Thirty plus years ago, I remember shopping on thanksgiving weekend. I would never go to the malls etc now. In fact from thanksgiving until after new years, I avoid the mall. If I really must go to buy a gift, I try to go on an off hour on a week day. I avoid crowds. </p>
<p>I think that something happens to otherwise normal people in a crowd. Years ago, my secretary’s cousin was trampled to death in an event in Manhattan that was in the news back then. So senseless, so unnecessary, so tragic.</p>
<p>I also try to buy on the internet if I can.</p>
<p>All to buy tvs on sale at rock-bottom prices so that they can watch more tv commercials that urge them to buy more.</p>
<p>These people need library cards for themselves and their kids, and the sense to use them–often. Their values needs major overhauling.</p>
<p>And Walmart needs to re-think having these days. Or at least install doors that can be opened by employees automatically from a safe distance.</p>
<p>“These people need library cards for themselves and their kids, and the sense to use them–often. Their values needs major overhauling.”</p>
<p>I don’t know about library cards these days. Some schools have very good libraries but the constraints of borrowing periods and books in demand by others can be sub-optimal. I have borrowing privileges at Boston College and Boston University but it’s cheaper in terms of the value of my time to, ahem, just buy it online at Amazon or Barnes and Nobles. So yeah, you can be consumerist and a book reader too.</p>
<p>There is a strange psychology in shopping crowds, particularly at frenzied times. I had an interesting experience either last year or the year before. I was in Whole Foods Market (very upscale grocery) the day before Christmas picking up some things we needed for holiday meals. You can imagine how crowded this store was. </p>
<p>I was at the bakery counter picking out a dessert. A store employee was helping me consider the options, because S1 is allergic to nuts and I had to check the ingredient list on everything I was considering. I was focused on this, and only vaguely aware that in the crowd around me another woman was similarly considering the options and quizzing a store employee about them. I finally made my decision, the employee boxed the cake, and as he was about to hand it to me this woman started screeching that this cake was hers. I saw the horrified looks on the employee’s faces as they faced the prospect of two women coming to blows over a cake. My gut reaction was that I was NOT going to fight over a cake, especially not on Christmas Eve, and I quickly decided to have some fun by doing the opposite of what this woman expected. I turned to her and said, very nicely, as if she were my best friend, “Oh, I didn’t realize you wanted this cake. Of course you should have it - please take it.” She changed instantly, and urged me to take the cake. I said that I was only interested in that cake because my son had allergies and it had no nuts, but that there was another nut-free cake that I liked as well and I would buy that one. She expressed great concern that I ended up with a cake that my son could eat. We ended up having a very friendly conversation and wishing each other Merry Christmas, and both left feeling much less frazzled. And the employees were clearly very relieved as they handed us each a cake, with war averted and peace restored.</p>
<p>Spock once said that it’s more pleasurable to want something than to have it (the science officer, not the doctor). Something that I’ve observed in young children where they argue over something to “win” it but don’t really care about it afterwards.</p>
<p>In the old days of Filene’s Basement in Downtown Crossing (Boston), they had an interesting formula for markdowns and a fairly well-known event where they sold wedding dresses at a very steep discount. I heard (maybe on TV) that women would undress and try the dresses on in the store. I was there as a child many years ago and there could be a bit of pushing and shoving.</p>
<p>Green Acres Mall (where the Wal-Mart was located) is not a particularly nice place. You would not want to be in the parking lot alone at night. We know someone whose car was stolen there, and robberies are not uncommon.</p>
<p>That said, you should be alert to danger in the parking lot-- but inside a Wal-Mart? That poor man. I hate malls, and I hate crowds. Don’t think I’ve ever shopped any place but local stores on “Black Friday.” In fact, I can’t remember when it even started being referred to as Black Friday – is that a pretty recent thing?</p>
<p>Stores that are open quite late can have people trying to steal things on the inside or rob people in the parking lot. I think that it’s natural to assume that a mall parking lot is safe (our big local mall has a lot of patrols in the parking lot) and let your guard down.</p>
<p>WalMarts are not particularly well-staffed so there are large areas with no store supervision. They may have cameras all over the place but someone has to monitor them and dispatch someone to deal with the problem. Some stores have guards and some don’t. WalMarts frequently hire older people and teenagers that wouldn’t necessarily due a good job with someone strong or a group of criminals.</p>
<p>I think that it was a mistake to try to block the people coming in but that’s in hindsight. I assume that those in the store had no idea that the door would give way under the pressure of the crowd. I read that police are going to review video and look to charge those that trampled him. I guess I wish them well on that but I can see problems with trying to do that.</p>
<p>My wife went shopping at Macy’s and found that a $130 comforter was marked down to $40 and that they were selling one a minute. They were all gone by the time she got there. We can all just shiver a little more at night.</p>
<p>Lunchroom conversation at my very diverse company:
Coworker #1: I heard you guys had to fight over bread in the good ol’ Soviet Union?
Coworker #2: You had to do what you had to do to feed your family. At least we were not fighting over some cheap plastic crap like you guys do on the day after Thanksgiving!</p>
<p>I went to a Black Friday sale once in my life and will never go to another one. I feel so sorry for the young man who’s life ended in such a sensless, tragic way.</p>
<p>In startlingly tone deaf fashion, Walmart actually said in its press release:</p>
<p>“Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of those impacted.” (emphasis added by me.)</p>
<p>lspf, according to this wiki article, the term started in the 1960s. I’ve only heard it recently but that may be because we lived overseas, where most stores still closed on Sundays.</p>
<p>[Black</a> Friday (shopping - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Friday_(shopping]Black">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Friday_(shopping))</p>
<p>I think the term’s been used for a long time – but fairly recently used in advertising. As a retailer, I find it vaguely offensive. As if I am not turning a profit all year, until this one specific day. I suppose the number crunchers may have come up with it in a similar fashion to Tax Freedom day – the theoretical day in the late spring when one has satisfied all tax obligations.</p>
<p>The only reason I can think that such a thing could even happen is that the crowd must be anonymous (and large). If the people standing at the front of the doors knew who they were standing next to, and expected to see them at work, school, in their neighborhood, the next morning, no one would be shoving. All it takes in an anonymous mob is for one person to even accidentally bump someone, the next person takes it as an aggressive move, shoves back and the game is on. The newspaper reported that one of the other injured people was a pregnant woman. I don’t remember standing for hours in a crowd to snag a deal on a consumer electronic when I was pregnant, but then I’ve NEVER seen the need to do that. I recall reading stories of stampedes at Ikea openings resulting in death, one was somewhere in South America and the other was in New Haven (that might have been a stabbing -whether it was related to a consumer frenzy or not I don’t know.) Beyond sad.</p>
<p>Is it possible that the stores bear some of the blame for this tragedy? Notice that many of their special buys are called “Door Busters.” Literally, the customer must bust the door in order to get one of the specials. Three times this week my husband or I has stopped by a store hoping to acquire a special, only to be told that they were sold out. How many of these “Limited” items did the store actually have in the first place? I give up! </p>
<p>We have neighbors who have a part time business buying and selling on e-bay. If the special is good, they are there first in line and will turn around and sell it for a profit.</p>
<p>I don’t think consumerism is what drives this sort of tragedy. The “I got you beat” mentality is what it is. It’s not letting someone get ahead of you, no matter what the circumstances, This is a major problem on Staten Island.</p>
<p>We did not go shopping this weekend despite the nearby outlet mall and some enticing offers where we were staying. I cannot imagine what the heck Walmart was offering for such a stampede.</p>