Officially a week until Black Friday...

Black Friday is the perfect day to stay home, put up the tree and lights and run Christmas trains...and to start working on all that leftover turkey.

 

Emile

Big Crabcake, I could not have said it better.  The day after Thanksgiving is the day set aside for NOT going shopping.  I'll be putting up the tree and trains of Christmas.

I stay home as well and put up the tree and run trains.  But for those that are in the NY area and looking for Black Friday type sales, Tom's Trains in Westchester County is having his annual holiday sale this Sat and Sun.  This is the LHS where I buy most all my trains. Great store and great owner.  I will be there with my son and dad.

 

http://tomstrainsny.com/events/

Black Friday. Whoop-T-Flippin-Do! I am looking forward to Christmas, but as for the sales the day after Thanksgiving? No thanks. I'll be rearranging my sock drawer or some other critical activity.

 

Gilly

For me Black Friday doesn't exist. Let the girls have it.

I reserve the Friday after Thanksgiving for getting out and putting up the outdoor Christmas decorations. I usually hit MB Kleins that Saturday with the grandson for our annual Christmas train buying spree.

 

 

Jerry

We started our free shipping sale early. We figured for anyone wanting a turntable or transfer table by Christmas they needed to order it soon, so we ran the sale early.

I don't go anywhere near a mall or retail store.

Do make sure that you get them all properly aligned magnetically North.......

I'll spend time in my shop building......what is an endless array of projects....and I've got 2 chairs to re-cane the seats.  Fun times.

Nooooop for Black Friday!! They can have it! I have to work anyway. I am sure it will be quiet at my job that day.

 

 

...keep the rails polished...

Black Friday    uh Black Thursday where will they stop?

 

if any of you have or are working in retail in big box stores some of those folks shopping are rude pushy shoving and yet the customer is always right!

 

it makes me think back to a commercial in the 50's where females are in a frenzy tossing dresses in the air seeking the correct size color fast forward to 2014 same thing.

 

no thank you a good day to run trains and enjoy the holidays with family and remembering what the holidays really mean.

 

 

 

Thanks for the update.  It probably would have escaped me.   

All those Black Friday specials are low-quality items, with fewer features than the product you would normally purchase.  Pluse they are not deals, they are planned out and manufactured a year in advance knowing they will make a profit on these "door busters".

 

Also, I think it is offensive that stores are now opening on Thursday evening when their employees (and all the shoppers) should be home with their families.

Here's my plan for Black Friday........not necessarily in this order.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That works. I used to say that  Chevy Chase's Xmas movie was a documentary. Too much commercialism today. No one to buy for, anyhow, except myself and I do that whenever the opportunity strikes.

Black Friday?  Sounds like an appropriate name.  You won't catch me anywhere near a mall that weekend.

 

Art

Somehow I can't bring myself to associate Black Friday with Christmas. I agree with Emile, good day to just stay home and enjoy the Thanksgiving Weekend.

My wife says that movie was made about me, she even bought me a Black Hawks jersey.

 

Jerry

Black Friday?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nooooooooooooo thank you!

I stay away from any kind of store on Black Fridays.  Fortunately for me, Black Friday has now become associated with trains, since that is opening day for Kennywood Holiday Lights and I will be there with the Pittsburgh independent Hi-Railers running trains.

 

Andy

Three years ago the company I worked for decided to open Thanksgiving and Christmas and to stay open for 24 hours. 

 

This is did not go well for store management as we had to work both days, no if ands or buts. If you didn't show up either day you lost your job. 

 

Because of the customer response and the amount of business we did both days the company will never close again on those holidays although they did back off being open 24 hours to only 16 hours. 

 

I now know why other stores open also, customers like it.

Black Friday starts now on Thanksgiving Night which in my opinion is a shame.  Thanksgiving Day and night should be holiday for everyone to spend with family and friends or just to rest from routine of daily life.  I have seen people getting in line as early as Tuesday before Thanksgiving in order to be sure to get the greatest bargains.  There used to be at least 2 days of the year when almost everything shuts down…now there appears to be only one…Christmas Day.   I miss seeing that.  How things have changed… but that is enough of my rant for this thread.  However, a couple years ago I got a very nice Lionel Legacy steam engine with 20% off MSRP on Black Friday.  I arrived at 7:45 am in the morning waiting for the doors to open at 8:00 am.  I did not even get out of my car until 2 min. before 8 am.  There were 3 others waiting for the doors to open to get 20% off everything in the store, but I was the only one buying trains!    Ken

The ironic thing Ken is people will go insane and spend $700 on the spot for a PS3, but not the same money for a ProtoSound 3.0 or Legacy locomotive.

Kind of makes you hope for an asteroid strike!

 

Jerry

The Golden State chapter of TTOS will be running trains at the mall that day, plus Saturday also.

Thomas

Yep, I agree with you. The funny thing is I walked out of the store that day with the best valued item in the store while everyone else was buying what not stuff!  The store that bought the engine from was a hardware store so there was no one in the store that knew anything much about trains and their value.  My Legacy engine cost $799 plus tax.  At the time, the engine was going for over $1500+ brand new on the bay and was hard to find.  It still is a hard engine to find today.  I walked out the store with a big grin on my face!  Ken

It is a shame that corporate greed has taken over this country. Whatever happened to all stores being closed for the holidays and people being with their families.  Black Friday is exactly what it is...a miserable abyss of greed to satisfy corporate "suits".

 

...keep the rails polished...

The way its goin folks it soon might be called Black Thursday, I mean Thanksgiving.

 

 

 

 

AMEN to all of this!

 

I absolutely HATE "Black Friday"and all the retail nonsense that goes with it. You could not PAY me to go to a retail store or shopping mall on that day!

 

I'll gladly stay at the house and play with the grand kids all day.

Not to entirely disagree with your sentiment, but it cuts both ways. Lets not loose sight of the fact that if people didn't show up in droves for such an event, the suits wouldn't conduct them.

I never have and never will take part in that insanity. I will be sleeping off Thanksgiving, making progress in the basement/train dungeon, and feeling sorry for my fiance' who has to work the madness.

 

 

As bad as it may be the reasons for businesses opening on these holidays is by customer Demand.

 

We recieved many, many thousands of emails, letters and other things asking us to open on the holidays. We tried for many years to not open but finally because our competitors opened, we had to. 

 

Blaming  the corporate suits is totally wrong, apparently you have never been one of those corporate suits, I have and it was not a very easy decision.

 

The only ones to blame is yourself, the customer. They dictate what businesses do and they have spoken, get used to it.

I'll be going to set up for Greenberg's Edison, N.J. show next weekend. That's a good

thing for Black Friday! Looking forward to a great show!

Very excited!  Christmas lights are my favorite part of Christmas.  My family and I host a huge Christmas light show, most of which is completed on Black Friday.  Of course, there is a lot of train related Christmas décor involved.  My most cherished pieces include huge 5.5 x 5.5 ft. train wreaths (see pic) we bought from a nearby railroad town and a 12 x 20 ft. lighted American flag.  The wreaths are huge and weight close to 50 pounds. 

 

agreed..........best thing i get out of it, the wife brings me home a steak sandwich from the mall. only black friday i ever done was going to the R.O.W.[bill benson] open house at their shop in akron,ohio.it was always the fri-sat after thanksgiving. -jim

I hate crowds. Thankfully, my wife does, too.

We live in the Pacific NW, where can not count on the weather on any given day between early October and late May. It's usually raining all through November but if it isn't, I have gone chasing trains with camera in hand on that day. We've also gone to the movies on that day, too, as it seems to be a good day for that. Anything to avoid the malls.

I firmly believe that people who line up days in advance for any store are doing it for the experience, just like those who camp out for a concert in advance. Camping out overnight wouldn't be worth it to me even if it was a 100% off sale inside said store.

I always have hidden from the crowds by working on my layout all day. I won't even leave the house until about 5 or 6 pm (the people are tired by then). Last year, I broke that rule and went to a train auction.

 

This year, I might break the rules even more if I can find a video camera I like at the right price...

I'll be at the Flyers - Rangers game at 1:00 pm.   It's a tradition to go to the annual Black Friday game while the rest of the world goes nuts.  I wait until Cyber-Monday and get better deals without leaving my home!

-Greg

Black Friday for me is putting up the Christmas lights, and enjoying the Thanksgiving weekend.