I had two Thanksgiving celebrations this week, one on Thursday and one on Friday for different parts of the family. In years past, part of the discussion around the dinner table were things people intended to buy on Black Friday. I remember some family members saying they were getting up at 4 am to go stand in line at a retail store to buy that new big screen TV on sale for an absurd price. Not one single person mentioned going out and shopping for anything. Not one!
I remember the stampedes at Walmart and other retail shops. If you don’t know what I’m talking about then perhaps the video below will remind or show you if you never got to see it or experience it.
Is it demographics, the economy or both?
The video above is from 14 years ago and the population from back then is now 14 years older so if the median age in that video was 40 then most of those people are now 54. I suspect elbow wrestling with other people is far less pleasant at 54 than it is at 40.
But the sluggish economy and rising unemployment aren’t helping the overall situation either. I continue to get pinged on LinkedIn by old co-workers I haven’t heard from in years asking if I’m hiring or if I’m retired.
According to this CNBC article, black Friday has been a big let down although online sales are up this year so perhaps that’s also part of the new normal. If online sales continue to dominate then that doesn’t bode well for malls and retail stores nor the whole commercial real estate industry in general.
My Black Friday Purchases
I only had two purchases for Black Friday. I signed up for Apple TV for 6 months $5/month so I could watch a few shows I like (Foundation). I also signed up to Disney+/Hulu for $5/month to watch some shows there. I plan on canceling as soon as I watch the shows or before the promos end. With the holidays coming up, I have already been using the service to binge watch a few things.
I also bought a new portable WiFi router when I travel because my old one goes flaky after a few hours use. I think it overheats and shuts down. I paid $120 for it. That’s it, those were all the things I was interested in purchasing this year on Black Friday. No, I am not going to hold up the economy.
Share The Wealth
Did you go out shopping on Black Friday? Let me know in the comments below.