Black Friday comes early for Wal-Mart (Tomorrow Nov.2nd)

[underpants]

Source: Orlando Sentinel

Wal-Mart wants "Black Friday" to come early this year. And so it will.

Instead of waiting for the day after Thanksgiving, when retailers traditionally offer rock-bottom deals to spur holiday shopping, Wal-Mart says it will offer "Black Friday" prices starting this Friday. The giant retailer says it will unveil its sale items online on Thursday at www.walmart.com/secret

Shoppers can also expect to find "Christmas Shops" with holiday decor and all the trimmings at Wal-Mart stores this weekend. It's as if Thanksgiving has already come and gone.



Read more: http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_business_blog/2007/11/black-friday-co.html

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More here

Wal-Mart Jump-Starts Discounts for Holidays
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/31/business/31walmart.html?ref=business

Walmart: "Black Friday" Is Now This Friday, Thanksgiving Surrenders
http://consumerist.com/consumer/retail/walmart-black-friday-is-now-this-friday-thanksgiving-surrenders-317449.php

is moving "Black Friday" to this Friday in a desperate attempt to make some money this holiday season. Never mind that this "holiday season" is weeks away. Black Friday is here, folks.

Walmart says they will unveil the "Black Friday" ad online this Thursday, at http://www.walmart.com/secret, so get your wallets out and cancel your plans.

Don't expect the store to be appropriately Thanksgiving-themed either, says Walmart in a press release:


In-store, the experience for Wal-Mart shoppers will be fittingly festive. Christmas Shops offering holiday decor and gifts and onsite product demonstrations open this weekend.

No time to give thanks, people. Start shopping!

[tridim]

1. Lead paint for all the kids at rock bottom sale prices!

It's nice to see Wal Mart in a panic. Hopefully this signals the beginning of the end of pro-China, anti-American, screw-our-employees-to-maximize-profits corporate shopping outlets all across America.

[underpants]

3. I doubt it

a co-worker told me about this in the break room. Apparently they are going to going into hyper mode of under-selling the competition ($300 laptops and flatscreens at about 40% of cost). They are KILLING the other retailers and THEY are following Walmart down this hole from which only Walmart can climb out of / win.

[qanda]

10. I don't know how they do it

Are they taking a loss on the big ticket items to get people in the store or something? I can't believe they're selling a 50" Plasma for less than $1,000. How do they do it?

[underpants]

13. "Loss leaders"

It is a retail thing. VCR's for instance-no one makes any money off them but they HAVE to have them in stock because everyone expects to be able to get one.

The markup on clothes is huge. That is one way. Food is a good mark up too.

[meegbear]

2. remove the period from the end of the first link

[underpants]

4. Done

Happy Shopping!!!

[meegbear]

6. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

PUT IT BACK! PUT IT BACK!

[slackmaster]

5. You mean I can go get herded like a sheep in a crowd of fat, stinky, stupid people tomorrow?

Kewl!

[silverojo]

26. Nice way to refer to poor folks

When you have a limited amount of food stamps, it's hard to afford anything besides fattening foods at a Wal-Mart Supercenter. Walk a mile in their shoes before judging the poor, m'kay?

[slackmaster]

28. Fat, stinky, stupid, rich cheapskates shop at Wally World too

But never let any kind of uncertainty stop a DUer who is determined to take the most negative extrapolated interpretation of what a person writes jump to conclusions and paint the author as some kind of politically incorrect person. Never ask for clarification, always assume the worst and run with it. It's the DU way.

When you have a limited amount of food stamps, it's hard to afford anything besides fattening foods at a Wal-Mart Supercenter.

I live in San Diego, where Wal-Mart Supercenters were banned by our city council last year, so Wal-Mart is not a place people go to shop for groceries. The poor people in my neighborhood don't have cars, and the public transit system isn't very functional, so the poor tend to shop at local mom and pop or independent grocers and use their food stamps to pay extra high prices for small quantities of food. And strangely, they're not fat or stinky or especially stupid. (The head of household of the family I know particularly well is an excellent cook.)

Walk a mile in their shoes before judging the poor, m'kay?

I buy most of my shoes at REI. The ones they sell at Wally World wear out too quickly and cause problems with my knees and back.

[Le Taz Hot]

31. Fat AND stinky

in the same sentence. Because one naturally goes with the other? Class all the way., dude :wtf:

[slackmaster]

32. I refer you to reply #28

Your reply rings of projection. It's just as unjustified as silverojo's, but customized with what may be a pet issue of yours.

But if reading in crap that I neither wrote nor intended provides entertainment for you, knock yourself out.

[Le Taz Hot]

34. *I* didn't write this, YOU did:

"You mean I can go get herded like a sheep in a crowd of fat, stinky, stupid people tomorrow?"

Think for one second about what you wrote. If you don't see the offensiveness of that sentence, I don't know what to tell you except maybe to encourage you to seek some serious introspection.

[slackmaster]

37. Why don't you think for a second about what I wrote

The subject is "herded like sheep". It's the mindless crowd behavior I have a problem with, bad public behavior, not any individuals' personal appearance or traits over which they have no control.

I think you are just looking for a reason to be offended.

[Le Taz Hot]

40. So why did you refer to them

as fat, stupid and sweaty if it wasn't an individuals' personal appearance? Too late to backpeddle now, son.

[slackmaster]

45. That's a general reference to people in a crowd, not anyone in particular

I'm sorry the nuance goes over your head, child.

[hatrack]

7. Let The Sales Cannibalization Begin!

:eyes:

[MadHound]

8. This is just the beginning of retail desperation for this upcoming holiday season

It may start out with Black Friday tomorrow, but it will all end with a Red Ink Friday for all retailers this year. Higher gas, food, heating, housing and other costs are simply sapping the consumer dry. They really have nothing extra left for the extravagent Christmas' of yore. In fact now that a lot of peoples' credit is maxxed out, there may not be any Christmas at all this year.

[Javaman]

12. exactly, they know the economy is tanking and they are trying to

get theirs while the going is still marginally okay.

They know something we don't know.

what will a month from now look like?

I would love to have a peak into chinamarts crystal ball.

[Deja Q]

23. Rather a year from now...

The next few months will be alright, but by mid-2008, if jobs don't start coming back or more people don't make something for others to purchase...

Gotta have faith.

[tabasco]

41. Nope.

Gotta have reality.

[Al Federfer]

14. It'll probably a very weak Christmas this year...

...which Bill O'Reilly will blame on godless lesbians.

[Buttercup McToots]

16. I can not afford to shop...

no extra money at all...:shrug:

[Le Taz Hot]

33. Everywhere around me I see

40%-70% off sales. I see more and more stores closing even before the Christmas season (mostly mom-and-pops). Even the big boys are desperate. You're right, MH, the fruits of the corporo-whores' labor are finally having tangible consequences. The scary thing is, this is just the beginning. I fear it will get far, far worse.

[TacticalPeek]

9. Monopsony.

Breaking the chain:
The antitrust case against Wal-Mart

BY Barry C. Lynn
PUBLISHED July 2006

...
Popular notions of oligopoly and monopoly tend to focus on the danger that firms, having gained control over a marketplace, will then be able to dictate an unfairly high price, extracting a sort of tax from society as a whole. But what should concern us today even more is a mirror image of monopoly called “monopsony.” Monopsony arises when a firm captures the ability to dictate price to its suppliers, because the suppliers have no real choice other than to deal with that buyer. Not all oligopolists rely on the exercise of monopsony, but a large and growing contingent of today's largest firms are built to do just that. The ultimate danger of monopsony is that it deprives the firms that actually manufacture products from obtaining an adequate return on their investment. In other words, the ultimate danger of monopsony is that, over time, it tends to destroy the machines and skills on which we all rely.

http://harpers.org/archive/2006/07/0081115

[spinbaby]

11. They expect shoppers?

It's not like we wage slaves can take Friday off to go shopping for Chinese bargains.

[superconnected]

15. hahahahah

good post. :)

[Vidar]

17. My monthly medication bill, has dropped from $340/month to $12/month

due to Wally world, but I'm still rooting against them in the long run.

[pitohui]

47. i just got some cheap medication there also

i can't root against them when it's a matter of health

i was just in there maybe an hour ago and i didn't see any evidence of "black friday" prices but maybe i was not in the correct section

crowds were not "black friday" crowds, it was reasonable, got checked out pretty fast

[shaniqua6392]

18. We will not shop at Walmart so we don't care what they do.

As for holiday spending.....We are only going to spend about 1/3 of what we usually do this year. We decided as a family to downsize our Christmas spending and draw names, etc. It is not just the money being tight this year either. I just want to get back to basics and not break the bank and lose the meaning of the whole thing. Plus we do not want to give Bush another reason to tell us that the economy is so great we should run out and go shopping! The economy is not great here in Michigan at all.

[Ishoutandscream2]

19. Good idea. I've recommended that to my wife's family

But they have to give to everybody, and it's a large, extended family. Very, very expensive, and her family (including us) is not rich by any stretch of the imagination.

[underpants]

20. I told everyone that I don't want anything

spend it on our little girl-give it to charity-I just don't need anything. We ended up slowly going nuts buying each other stuff when none of us need anything.

[shaniqua6392]

22. I know what you mean by not needing anything.

My house is filled with everything I could possibly need and a bunch of stuff that I didn't need. I have two daughters, aged 26 and 15. When I asked recently what they would like for Christmas, neither of them could actually come up with any ideas. They really already have everything. We are all really spoiled even though we are not very well off. It is definitely time for a change.

[Changenow]

35. Kroger may strike soon

I'm in a quandary. Should I cross the picket line and buy from scabs, or go to Walmart and buy from scabs.

[adadem]

21. WalMart could give their stuff

away for free and I still would refuse to step foot in there.

If not for WalMart how different our world might be.

[Raine]

24. The holiday season

just starts earlier and earlier. :-( It just pisses me off no end that for the sake of a buck the retailers rush us thru our lives that way. :mad:

[Scout1071]

25. I think they are trying to do it before gas gets much more.

If gas goes up significantly by Thanksgiving, people will spend less for the holidays. They are trying to grab their pile now while people think they can still afford it.

[silverojo]

27. Bingo! n/t

[tabasco]

42. Heating oil / Propane / NG too.

When people start paying for heat they will realize they have no money to spend for the holidays.

God Bless America.

[catmandu57]

29. I'm doing my christmas shopping online this year

For several reasons, I can get a good price on the things I want, I don't drive anymore so I'll pay the shipping costs, and my wife won't see what I've got hidden away. No mal-wart for me this year.

[Dulcinea]

44. I shop online as much as possible.

Wild horses wouldn't drag me to a mall in December. I hate the crowds, wasting gas & wasting valuable time looking for things. I prefer to shop in my PJ's at the keyboard!

And I avoid Walmart like the plague. The one nearest to me is dirty, cluttered & the aisles are too narrow.

[mitchum]

30. That's "Black Fliday"

[ima_sinnic]

36. the War on Thanksgiving has begun!

Thanksgiving is actually a nicer holiday--a time devoted to preparing and sharing of food, together in a family and extended family group, without the pressure and expense of consumer goods, lots of time to enjoy people we haven't seen for a while, multi generations sitting back and watching The Game or going for a walk to exercise off the potatoes and gravy. No big expectations, not much fretting or stressing, just the knowledge that you will get to enjoy great food with special people and also get a few days off from work.

But of course there's little "shopping" involved in Thanksgiving besides food and maybe some flowers for the hosting family, fabric and craft items and maybe special dishes and other knick knacks for decorations, so of course Mall Wart will wage war on it. Its only significance for them has been to usher in the shopping season.

May Wal Mart find nothing but a lump of coal in its Xmas stocking this year. I am waiting for the day they go belly up--and it will come, ultimately and inevitably.

[Arugula Latte]

38. Cheap crap even cheaper!!!

:woohoo:

[Snarkturian Clone]

39. Can't wait for the videos of people beating the shit out of each other

to save a few bucks. I used to work with a woman that took black friday off every year just to be one of those morons who run into the store and step on people to buy shit cheap. The ironic part is that she would take a pay cut for that day, therefore she didn't really save money at all.

People like this make me want to puke. I can't think of any justification of this. So you save some money. Is it really worth the effort?

[NorthernSpy]

43. I think I'm America's only WalMart virgin...

I've never actually set foot in one.

:shrug:

[truthisfreedom]

46. Hey Walmart, why don't you just move Xmas to the 4th of July? That way we can make it a completely

patriotic holiday.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

48. That's in the works

But it the move isn't supposed to be fully implemented for another two years yet.

Patience grasshopper.