U.S. Campus Life Black Friday By Masako Yamada	フレームで見る  英文をプリントする  脚注をプリントする
ブラック・フライデー 感謝祭翌日、朝5時から「早朝セール」を開催した、おもちゃチェーンKB　Toys。

The day after Thanksgiving is sometimes called "Black Friday." The expression sounds ominous, but the meaning is actually positive: this is the day that retailers look forward to going from the red to the black. Black Friday is the unofficial start of the Christmas shopping season.

The streets are usually deserted on Thanksgiving, with even 24-hour stores closed for the day. However, the day after Thanksgiving is completely different. Many people take advantage of their days off by heading to shopping centers and malls. The stores do their best to tempt these wandering customers.

Black Friday sales are often used as an indicator of yearly earnings for retailers. I have heard that this year, many people have enjoyed window-shopping more than actual shopping. The economic climate has not been very good all year, since the Internet bubble burst. The terrorist activity on Sept. 11 further exacerbated the already lagging economy.

This is exactly the kind of year that people hunt for bargains. In an effort to jump-start consumers' shopping engines, retailers often open their stores extra early on Black Friday and hold special sales in the morning. This year was no different.

One chain store, KB Toys, had a Black Friday sale from 5 a.m. to noon. Apparently, some parents were already waiting outside the stores before opening time so they could grab the cheapest toys for their children. It's hard to blame them. Some items were selling at less than half of their usual cost.

I, myself, woke up at 5:30 a.m. so I could grab two morning sales. Actually, I was merely dragged along by my boyfriend. He has a good friend who is an expert shopper, and the friend had suggested that he buy several items during the morning sales. By 7:05 a.m., we were busy looking for sale items at a store called Staples.

Since the sale hours are limited, these stores don't label the bargain items on the shelves. One must know beforehand the exact items that are on sale. My boyfriend had a printed list of items from the Staples Web site. There were not many people at Staples that early in the morning, but the people who were there seemed to all be purchasing the same items. Using a combination of rebates and coupons, all of these items could be purchased for next to nothing. It made me question the effectiveness of the sales strategy. The stores undoubtedly "give away" some items so that they can lure shoppers into the stores and tempt them into buying more expensive items, but most of the early-morning shoppers seemed to be grabbing only the bargain items. As a matter of fact, some items sold out only 10 minutes after opening time.

After this trip to Staples, we took the train to go to another store called Best Buy. Again, some of the most popular bargain items were already sold out, but we did manage to grab a George Foreman Grilling Machine. This is an item that we had been coveting for some time.

Since both retailers and consumers are often in a hurry during such sales, it's not unusual for mistakes to be made. My boyfriend realized later on in the day that one of the "free" items had a lot of hidden costs. After we made a trip to return that item, he realized that the cashier had forgotten to give him a rebate application for another item. Resolving this involved another trip to the store.

Even though I was just a passive observer during this shopping expedition, making no purchases of my own, I did learn a lesson or two. After three trips to Staples and one trip to Best Buy, my boyfriend reflected upon his stash with great satisfaction. He got an electric grill, a computer scanner, color printer paper and a label maker for free. The actual value of the items was close to $200 (¥24,800)! Even he admitted that he expended a lot of energy for these items, but one can't argue too much when everything is free. Besides ... it was an adventure, a trip. I think that's what bargain hunters crave the most.

Shukan ST: Dec. 7, 2001

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