Moments & Thoughts

Wal-mart: Thank you for staggering the times at which your offers & door busters were available. You did the best you could, unfortunately many of your shoppers are violent when overcome with greed. I saw punches thrown over $3 doorbusters and some lady get trampled when she passed out. Shoppers filling their cart with 10+ of the doorbuster items makes me think that placing a per customer limit on specially priced items could help a lot next year. Even though it wasn’t your fault, one more year like this & I might have to blacklist you from my holiday shopping.

Target: The line to get into the store was long, but well worth it. The calm and organized method of admitting 30 people every 15 seconds was brilliant and I attribute the comfortable, relaxed and every-day-like shopping experience to this policy. Also you were well stocked on your doorbusters which had to help, so thanks. Finally the 4-6 people you dedicated to keeping an organized and quickly moving check out line were well worth it. You definitely get an “A” for the day, as it was the best shopping experience hands down.

Kohl’s: Year after year you have the same issue, no staff members help identify or organize a line, which leaves every isle full of shoppers wondering if they’re really in line and why the heck it isn’t moving. If you can’t learn from your mistakes, get out of the game. No one wants to wait in line for 3 hours for soft goods, too many other places sell clothes and household items.

Sheetz: Thank you for being open 24/7/365 to deal with us crazy shoppers. MTO’s & a dining area at 2 am while waiting for the 3:00 store openings is priceless! (*full disclosure: I work for Vela Agency, Sheetz marketing firm of record).

Belk: If you’re only going to open one of your five entrances on time so that you can distribute gift cards for your promotion, that’s fine, just post on other doors which door will open on time and when you expect to open each door. No one likes to stand out in the cold 10 minutes after opening time wondering what the heck is going on. However, having a few men around to wheel the heavier items out and help load them in the car was a much appreciated service, I love you for that, it made up for the earlier cold shoulder. Also sampling the Kurig coffee at the door was a nice & friendly touch, thank you.

Radio Shack: You were well stocked, well staffed, thank you. BTW you have an amazing elderly man on staff at the Hanes Mall location in Winston-Salem, NC.

JC Penny: You seemed well stocked and staffed though the lines moved awfully slow… In the future lets avoid the small print on the coupons in the Thursday Circular … be just as transparent in print as you are in social and we’ll love you more. PS I think we should be able to use the coupons all day if we’re not buying doorbuster sale items.

Sears: Your Christmas decorations last year were beautiful, this year they just looked cheap like your sister store K-Mart. I missed the selection. Secondly, though I didn’t experience it first hand, the lady behind me in line griped non-stop about the air hockey/pool table you had on special but not in store, its not a good practice & she’ll never shop with you again. Your lines were all long, but I think that’s just because you don’t have very many registers, they moved at a normal place and the atmosphere (aside from the complainer) was rather nice.

Lowe’s: Great job today, you were well stocked, organized with maps & isle descriptions & the cheerful greeter at the door was a nice touch. Thanks for another good experience.

Family Christian Book Store: The doorbusters all felt like cheap junk. The sales weren’t really that great. But as expected the people and the atmosphere were very pleasant. I really appreciated the employees who jumped to opening additional registers even though there were only 3 people in line.

Staples: Well stocked & no lines, plus the $20 rebate card on the kindle purchase was a great offer. The stop was quick & painless, which was just what we needed after 11 hours of shopping.

K-Mart: I’m not sure how I feel about you being open Thanksgiving Day. Nonetheless you were our last shopping stop. You had just what we needed and open registers, thanks.

Over All: It was a good day filled with great deals & fun shopping victories! However, I feel like there are too many people out there trying to make money on this shopping day rather than save money. I truly believe these people are the problem starters & even though I’ve been a Black Friday shopper since age 4, I don’t know how much longer I care to continue of these greedy shoppers are allowed to persist. I truly hope that stores begin to reinstate the limited number per shopper regulations for doorbuster item, I think it might bring back some of the joy, and reintroduce some kindness into the experience.