Have Money - Will Shop
“Green Friday”
Although I understand the origin of the term “Black Friday” I never liked it. I propose we start calling the day after Thanksgiving “Green Friday” instead. Money seems to fall out of the sky on this day as shoppers line up early to start their official Christmas shopping.
The RUSH!
I like the term Black Friday even less this year after reading about the Wal-Mart employee in New York that was killed by stampeding shoppers within an hour after opening the Long Island Wal-Mart store at 5 AM to Christmas a mob of shoppers.
Early Bird Parking
The parking lot at Ala Moana Shopping Center was nearly full by 6 AM today, and by 7 AM the mall was full of shoppers. I spend a lot of time (with clients) in that mall, but today was different. The coffee shops and seating areas had room; no one goes to the mall at 6 AM to relax. These shoppers were on a shopping mission. Yes, people do have money, and they will spend it when motivated to do so.
“I start buying when I meet people that are selling.”
-J. Paul Getty
As you scroll down through these photos taken at 7 AM, think about the doom and gloom holiday spending projections put out by the media. These people are not at the mall worried about the economy. Christmas has not been cancelled this year.
Happy Holidays - Sell - Sell Sell!
November 29th, 2008 at 8:03 am
I’m with you, Ron, on the term “Green Friday.” And something is seriously askew with our values when people stampede into stores, become uncivil when claiming parking stalls, and shove each other out of the way in pursuit of a video game. For shame. Glad to see that your photos reflect only peaceful scenes.
November 29th, 2008 at 8:08 am
Look at all the shopping bags!
Maybe Pacific Business News should hang out at the mall more often before giving us those continuous gloomy headlines. Green Friday indeed!
November 29th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
Did you get a good look at that group attacking the poor Wal-Mart dude? It looked more like a prison break than a shopping trip. It doesn’t look like there’s enough money in the whole crowd to buy a TV set; what’s the rush? I guess that they have saved up their welfare checks for a few months and are anxious to throw it away in Wal-Mart.
November 29th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
The difference between those thugs you saw in New York and the photos that Ron took at Ala Moana is called “Aloha.” This is the land of Aloha and we treat people as we would like to be treated. Lucky we live Hawaii!!
November 30th, 2008 at 9:37 am
All for the renaming–never liked “Black Friday” which only invokes visions of stock market crashes on “Black Monday” and “Black Tuesday”, although I don’t exactly support the concept of loss leaders and good deals only between T-giving and X-mas, either. Our best deals are available the whole year around.