We're Off and Running

Black Friday officially got underway here at midnight on the east coast and, true to form, the Retail Contrarians were asleep.  But after speaking with some retailers and reviewing early news stories it appears that the initial wave of shoppers was pretty strong.  Here's the big question: Will the shoppers keep coming? If I'm stuck in a traffic jam trying to get into an outlet center at 1:00 a.m., will I keep shopping as the day goes on?  I think many people are going to head home to either go to bed or regain their sanity. Don't be surprised if the weekend is a bit of a disappointment for many retailers.

The Wall Street Journal reports that investors await signs of how well retailers might fare during the holiday shopping season. Let's get this straight....how retailers do today tells us nothing about the holiday season as a whole. It did, years ago, before "Midnight Madness" and "4:00 am. Doorbusters" became big events, but those days are gone. The only thing investors will really learn after this weekend is who won the media competition and bragging rights for the day after Thanksgiving.

In New York City and many other places around the country the holiday shopping season actually got underway on Thanksgiving Day. Bah, humbug!  As you can imagine, we've been outspoken about non-food stores being open on Thanksgiving Day.  Here are articles from both The New York Times and The Philadelpha Daily News with our comments about this pernicious practice.