I could write about a new Mexican restaurant opening in town, yawn, or the latest check advance business to set up shop, but you don’t want to read about that. I’ll save it for another day.
It’s Black Friday time, so you want to read about who was trampled to death trying to reach the 99-cent dishrags, or who was tackled trying to get the last big-screen TV. The way I look at it, a shopping experience can’t be truly exhilarating unless there’s a chance someone might put me in a headlock.
If you’re not willing to fight over it, the deal can’t be that great. If you’re not willing to shove an old lady to the floor, you’re not saving enough money. If there’s not a very real chance you could witness a stabbing, you’re probably paying too much.
Thus, the idea of Black Friday was born. Decades ago, some brilliant marketing executive decided it would be profitable to take a normally routine experience like shopping and find some way to infuse violence into the equation. This could be done by offering, say, a 19-inch color TV for $39.
Over the years, the Black Friday concept has evolved. The idea of merely offering TVs for a great price wasn’t enough. To make matters really interesting, stores could only offer five TVs at that price. Customers were left to descend on stores in pack mentality, waiting for a magical hour, say 4 a.m. the day after Thanksgiving, to get the one-time special offer.
The next logical step as Black Friday transforms is to place those TVs next to the baseball bat display and see what happens. Or place the TVs inside a steel cage and allow two customers in at a time. Think of the entertainment value as families search for things to do after eating their Thanksgiving meal.
Half-crazed shopping is the way this generation will remember Thanksgiving. The days of going over the river and through the woods to grandmother’s house have been replaced. Now it’s through the traffic jams and over to electronics for great deals on tablets we go.

Walmart Pandemonium

Walmart was its usual madhouse with customers having to park as far away as the old Ryan’s building and Fred’s just to find a space. But the madness has made a change from Black Friday to Thanksgiving night.
“Nobody got trampled, but it was crazy in here,” said longtime Walmart employee Barry Myers. “If you’ve never been in here before, it always gets interesting and I’ve been doing it for 21 years. There are thousands and thousands of people in this store. There are so many people, in some places it’s hard to move. There’s been a definite shift. Now it’s more like Black Thursday. Eat your Thanksgiving dinner and get out and start looking for deals. From 6 p.m. till midnight Thursday we had some really great deals. It started out slow Friday morning, but it started to pick up around 10 a.m. We have some prices that end at noon.”
Electronics are always popular and Walmart had a 50-inch TV for $218. There were also discounted Beats headphones and various tablets on sale too. Myers said one of the best deals in the store was a 60-inch Samsung smart TV with a resolution of 240. Myers said Walmart was offering that TV at a 29 percent loss.
Myers said the latest and greatest TVs offer 2160 resolution, which provides for a fantastic picture. “It’s unbelievable clarity, but it’s a little bit before it’s time. The picture is so great, the cable providers don’t have that level of broadband. It will probably be two to three more years on that.”
Walmart shoppers Rhonda Summerland and Pat Halteman were happy to fight the Black Friday crowds. The sisters said they don’t really have any items on their Christmas wish list.
“I’ve reached the point in my life where it’s more about what my family wants,” said Rhonda. “I have four great-grandchildren. I’m focused on getting them what they want.”
Pat had similar sentiments. “I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas,” she said.

Junior Petit gets quoted

I’ve often thought about having a regular feature in the newspaper called “Junior Petit Says …” The segment would give Junior a weekly chance to spout off about whatever topic he sees fit and would be widely read by at least one person, his mother.
I stopped by J’s Restaurant on Friday to see what Junior had to say about the world and he was talking about the new four-lane to Woodbury. As a local business co-owner, he says the road will not be a plus.
“It cuts 10 minutes off your time to Murfreesboro and it’s not a good thing for local businesses to make it easier to go out of town,” said Junior. “The road itself is great. I just wonder how many more dollars are going to be leaving town and spent elsewhere because of it.”
Junior makes a valid point. Folks are always eager to leave McMinnville as it is. This road is going to serve as a new level of encouragement for people to travel to Murfreesboro, the city of everything.
As for his Black Friday business, Junior says it’s strong but not spectacular. He says his busiest time is the week before Christmas and the day after Christmas when people rush to spend their gift cards. After that, he says he will be busy from January thru May.
“That’s income tax time,” said Junior. “I’ll be busy for five months.”
Asked what he wanted for Christmas, Junior said, “To get a condo in St. Martin,” which is a place in the Caribbean.
Asked what she wanted for Christmas, J’s employee Amanda Holguin said, “Some good vacation pay.” She added, “I’ll mainly be shopping for my kids. I have two boys. They both want Kindle Fires.”

Excitement at JC Penney

Much like Walmart, store employees at Three Star Mall said they experienced their busiest rush Thanksgiving night, not on Black Friday. Goody’s, Shoe Sensation, Hibbett Sports, Bath and Body Works, Radio Shack, and JC Penney were all open Thanksgiving night.
“One of our big doorbuster deals was towels for $2.99,” said JC Penney manager Eddie Daws. “We opened at 5 p.m. and all the towels were gone by 6:30 p.m. It was packed in here and we’ve been very busy. One thing I’d like to say is I want to thank all our customers who were in here shopping Thursday night. They were all very patient and all very well-behaved and I know it was tough because at one point the lines were about an hour long.”
Other hot sellers at Penneys included boots that were marked down from $80 and were selling between $19 and $30. Small electrical items such as griddles and crockpots were popular. They were selling for $19.99 with customers getting a $10 mail-in rebate to make the price after rebate $9.99.
Penney’s customer Naoma Parsley was happy to get through the Penney’s line with a bagful of items. “I’m doing my Christmas shopping here in McMinnville,” she said.
Her grandson Carter Keaton said his top Christmas item couldn’t be purchased at the mall. “I want a four-wheeler,” said Carter.

Mall stores get swamped

It was crazy at nearby Hibbett Sports where a number of name-brand items like Under Armour and Nike were 25 per-cent off.
“It seems like the whole store is 25 percent off,” said employee Kelly Graham, who was anxious to get in some holiday shopping when her shift was done. “I’m looking to get that 50-inch TV that’s on sale.”
Hibbett was packed with customers buying athletic apparel and sporting goods like basketballs. Hibbett employee Kyle O’Dell was busy bagging merchandise and said he was anxious to get a PS4 for Christmas.
In keeping with the theme of stores packed with customers, Bath and Body Works was overflowing with people. That included Kodi Kesey, who was scooping up lotion and body wash and just about everything she could get her hands on.
A big Bath and Body works seller was a tote bag filled with store merchandise. The tote bag could be purchased for $20 if you first spent $40 in the store. It sounds a little tricky, but ladies were snatching them up.
At Goody’s, manager Julie Lusk said store employees counted 180 customers in line when doors opened Thursday night.
“We had fun with customers in line, playing Bingo and offering store gift cards to the winners,” said Julie. “It was really full in here Thursday night. That’s definitely become the big day.”
At a mall kiosk, DTC Wireless didn’t have any special Thanksgiving hours, but was enjoying steady business as customers were looking to buy iPhones. The store has several different versions in stock including the iPhone 5, 5C and 6. Also popular was the huge selection of phone cases to protect your investment from damage when it eventually gets dropped. Cases are available in all sizes and colors for all types of phones.

That’s all folks

Tune in next week when I return to my more traditional Business Pulse offering. Despite the new four-lane to Woodbury, I will not turn my back on local businesses and begin focusing on Murfreesboro. Phone in business tips at 473-2191.