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Offline asylumseeker

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Black Friday Shopping Thread
« on: November 23, 2012, 10:01:28 PM »
Well, I had my first Black Friday experience today ... I have to say it was somewhat a window on America.

Some observations:

America is indeed quite a "brown" nation ... most of the consumers I observed were of that ilk ... and there was a reasonably numbered contingent of foreigners (Canadians incl. Quebecois travelling with Truetrini's permission; plenty Brits ... more than a couple Germans ... and a good portion of Russian $$$ was in the mix too).

But the "browning of America" were actually the majority of consumers.

I was curious to see whether some of the deals were illusory, buh ah hadda say some genuine bargains were available.

I din head out into the commercial yonder at midnight, but I should have ... I made it there at 7am ... this meant I got to geh in on the tail end of the extra deals that were reserved for the midnight shoppers ... some stores cut off their extra discounts at 8am ... others a lil later (I was in a Levis store when I heard them announce a 10am cut off ...)

Highlight of the day ... a 15 year old employee in the Nike store who knew his product intimately!!! ... ah hadda say, buying running shoes eh what it used to be ... small man was speaking an entirely different language ...

Which brings me to this ... it's interesting how the retail sector is directed by fairly young people.

Every time i went to the car fuh a lil breather (aka putting purchases in the trunk) ... the late arrivals were losing considerable time trying to get a parking space ... dat had tuh be frustrating ... when I arrived the place was semi-full, buh a couldn't see well due to a fog that hovered over the area ... so ah doh know exactly but there were cars all over the lot ... later people would be parked up on the medians and anywhere they could find a spot ... my guess is the vehicle I saw being towed while I was in the food court was that of someone who didn't park responsibly ... no PA system to broadcast across the stores to leh dem know dey blocking somebody ...

Public restrooms ... hmmm ... cleaning staff were vigorously on top of things ... them ppl could consult abroad ... they on top ah dey game ... on a question of etiquette: when the restroom says "family restroom" ... do you actually expect to see the whole family pouring out of the restroom when the door opens? Hmmm.

There remains a taint of mutual suspicion in the shopping transaction between black males and seemingly proficient employees: "Sir, may I help you?" ... Yuh kinda jes wanted to say ... "Nah I good!!!" ... buh then yuh realize their enthusiastic intervention is really about feeling yuh going and tief deys things ... there are several ways of brokering that and sending them back into dey corner ...

I had a manager come up to me today and boldly announce that I had been in the store for 20 minutes .... lol ... as opposed to who else??? ... Jah Know. Neutralized that quick.

I was at one ah dem huge outlet places ... around 9:30a.m. ah  went to the food court to geh a bite ... it had ppl with dey heads down on tables like dey was wiped out from running from store to store at 3am ... one girl had a few bags clutched around her arms as she slept ... when her sister or whoever came up sometime later to prank her by attempting to pull the bags away ... de gyul start tugging the bags but kept her head down as if she was pulling de bags in her sleep ... when she did raise her head drooling she was lost.

Anyway... quite the experience.

« Last Edit: May 22, 2015, 05:42:42 AM by Flex »

Offline Bakes

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Re: Black Friday Shopping
« Reply #1 on: November 23, 2012, 10:49:11 PM »
Rookie.

Offline 2cents

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Re: Black Friday Shopping
« Reply #2 on: November 24, 2012, 10:19:53 AM »
Great post....does always tell my frens in Trini to come up for a Black Friday. My cousin from up here married a trini guy recently he came up for the first time for Black Friday last yr and went wiiiiiiild. Toys r Us to best buy to century 21 to old navy he was a kid in candy store.
It's only kinky the 1st time

Offline asylumseeker

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Re: Black Friday Shopping
« Reply #3 on: November 24, 2012, 10:38:37 AM »
Rookie.

... as a direct participant yes.

I could repeat the experience ... buh shopping online still lashing. When saying so ... here comes Cyber Monday :)

Offline Bakes

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Re: Black Friday Shopping
« Reply #4 on: November 24, 2012, 11:30:59 AM »
I start doing the early A.M. Black Friday thing about ten years ago when my cousins come up from Trinidad and chain me up into playing host.  See my ass freezing in de people parking lot 5 o'clock in de morning.  Wasn't long before I start focusing all my major purchases around Black Friday.  I do Cyber Monday as well... have some laptop parts ah watching out for on Monday.  Another big day for me is Father's Day, I does set up mihself nice with clothes, shoes, accessories and electronics.  Couple years ago I went down to Rehoboth and clean up with only about $700.

Offline Brownsugar

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Re: Black Friday Shopping
« Reply #5 on: November 25, 2012, 02:06:09 PM »
I clean up a few times online over the past 3 years or so on Black Friday.  This year my fix was shoes.  Got an asics running shoe I've been eyeing all year for US $25 down from $90!!!   :o :o......it was the last one left as at 7:30'sh Friday morning......and a few other shoes at good prices.....

Viva capitalism.....down with the Revolution!!!   ;D ;D
"...If yuh clothes tear up
Or yuh shoes burst off,
You could still jump up when music play.
Old lady, young baby, everybody could dingolay...
Dingolay, ay, ay, ay ay,
Dingolay ay, ay, ay..."

RIP Shadow....The legend will live on in music...

Offline lefty

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Re: Black Friday Shopping
« Reply #6 on: November 25, 2012, 02:18:36 PM »
I wasn't so lucky ent ketch no good deals on ah netbook ah was eyeing for a while was at 250us but hold ups with gate force mih to wait...price only goin up now  :'( ....was d only ting ah was really runnin for........... did pick up a nice72" tripod for cheap a couple weeks ago... very sturdy and functional for d price.
I pity the fool....

Offline Bakes

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Re: Black Friday Shopping
« Reply #7 on: November 25, 2012, 02:44:47 PM »
This year I play grown up... buy mostly thing fuh de house, furniture, curtains, cooking utensils etc.  Man just feeling domesticated then, lol.  Had mih eye on a nice futon fuh de den that was $99 on Friday.  Check de price this morning and is $143... wtf?? ??  Waiting tuh see what Cyber Monday offering... ah want ah flat screen fuh de bedroom upstairs, but only if available at a good price.

Offline fari

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Re: Black Friday Shopping
« Reply #8 on: November 25, 2012, 05:13:30 PM »
This year I play grown up... buy mostly thing fuh de house, furniture, curtains, cooking utensils etc.  Man just feeling domesticated then, lol.  Had mih eye on a nice futon fuh de den that was $99 on Friday.  Check de price this morning and is $143... wtf?? ??  Waiting tuh see what Cyber Monday offering... ah want ah flat screen fuh de bedroom upstairs, but only if available at a good price.

friday at 8 pm amazon had a 32 inch flat screen for 97

Offline D.H.W

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Re: Black Friday Shopping
« Reply #9 on: November 25, 2012, 05:15:55 PM »
Lord :(
"Evil is powerless if the good are unafraid."
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Offline Bakes

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Re: Black Friday Shopping
« Reply #10 on: November 25, 2012, 06:55:42 PM »
friday at 8 pm amazon had a 32 inch flat screen for 97

Whey it make, in Russia nah? lol... but seriously, that is a good price.

Offline Touches

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Re: Black Friday Shopping
« Reply #11 on: November 28, 2012, 01:19:10 PM »
This was the first time in 6 years I ent come up for black friday and I was bummy...cause online wasnt cutting it.

For me it is a cohesive plan of attack.

After thanksgiving dinner bout 8-9pm I reaching best buy or walmart and I joining the line ketching kicks with people.

The days before we scouring the papers and online sites for best deals...then yuh go in the store and map the location days before, make friend with the youths working there as they are the ones who tell you how much stock they have or they handing you the tickets for the items when you line up.

When the store open...one hadda rush the big item...the other the smaller items and the third person hadda hold the line by the cashier.

The cashier line is what does take up the time.

My team is my wife and sister...everybody know they role as certain items are limited per customer.

I time I buy six lenovo laptop at close to 200 each...I had to get the people I make friend with in the line buy them for me....I sell them when I reach home and make back meh plane ticket and other shopping money.

Also too, the young people does help you out...Xbox live card reg 25 us was going at 9$...limit one per customer...A youth man watch me and say..I'm gonna help out a fellow gamer....is 12 card I take and he cash it normal normal.

Electronics, TV, Movies, TOys and video games is level sale...rush it like wrong change.

Yuh does just hadda plan yuh attack good...I home by 5:00 am.



A for apple, B for Bat, C for yuhself!

Offline Andre

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Re: Black Friday Shopping
« Reply #12 on: November 28, 2012, 03:31:24 PM »
i line up walmart from midnight to get the $1 jockey shorts.

victory @ 10 am!!!!

Offline Dutty

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Re: Black Friday Shopping
« Reply #13 on: November 29, 2012, 11:09:35 AM »
i line up walmart from midnight to get the $1 jockey shorts.

victory @ 10 am!!!!

yeah boy you win!!

you stanup for 9 hours in de cold to spen wha? $30, $40 on some draws??
Little known fact: The online transportation medium called Uber was pioneered in Trinidad & Tobago in the 1960's. It was originally called pullin bull.

Offline D.H.W

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Re: Black Friday Shopping
« Reply #14 on: November 29, 2012, 11:27:29 AM »
 :rotfl:
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Offline Andre

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Re: Black Friday Shopping
« Reply #15 on: November 29, 2012, 01:38:23 PM »
they have de latest fruit of the loom balltech fabric.

Offline Sando prince

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Black Friday Phenomenon now Global
« Reply #16 on: November 29, 2014, 12:56:27 PM »



 Trinidad joins "Black Friday" shopping frenzy

...hundreds line up for bargains

http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/Shoppers--284141681.html

By Carolyn Kissoon

Black Friday sale, one of the most anticipated events in the United States, was observed at PriceSmart Trinidad today attracting thousands of shoppers.

The local sale was titled Smart Friday.

PriceSmart members lined up outside locations throughout the country from daybreak to catch the best deals on Smart LED television sets, computer systems and kitchen appliances among others.

Long before the doors were opened at PriceSmart La Romaine, customers were seen waiting outside. And by 9am the store was flooded with thousands of anxious buyers. There were similar scenes at locations in Chaguanas, Port-of-Spain and Arima.

Black Friday is the day following Thanksgiving Day in the United States, often regarded as the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. In recent years, most major retailers have opened very early and offered promotional sales to kick off the holiday shopping season, similar to Boxing Day sales in many Commonwealth nations.

In 2013, approximately 141 million US consumers shopped during Black Friday, spending a total of US$57.4 billion, with online sales reaching US$1.2 billion.
« Last Edit: November 29, 2014, 05:25:12 PM by Sando prince »

Offline Sando prince

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Re: Back Friday Phenomenon now Global
« Reply #17 on: November 29, 2014, 12:58:53 PM »




Bargains and brawls: 'Black Friday' comes to Britain

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/28/us-britain-retail-idUSKCN0JC03W20141128

British police officers were called to stores across the country on Friday as the "Black Friday" shopping frenzy imported from the United States brought surging crowds and fights over sharply discounted goods.

For the first time, most British retailers have fully embraced "Black Friday" promotions this year, both in store and online, seeking to follow their cousins across the Atlantic and kickstart trading early in the key Christmas period.

The day after the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, which falls on the fourth Thursday of November, is extravagantly promoted in the United States as the start of the Christmas shopping season. The surge in spending is said to make it the day when retailers finally show a profit for the year, or go "into the black".

With no national holiday in late November, people in Britain had no reason to notice the day until American online retailer Amazon brought its Black Friday sales across the Atlantic in 2010.

Last year marked the first time major UK store groups such as John Lewis [JLP.UL], Dixons and Wal-Mart's Asda participated in a serious way, and this year has seen the trend explode across a majority of the British retail sector.

A survey commissioned by Barclays found that 65 percent of British retailers that sell both online and in stores planned Black Friday promotions.

Supermarket leader Tesco, clothing retailer Marks & Spencer, and electrical retailers Dixons and Argos are doing far bigger promotions than before. Others, like No 3 grocer Sainsbury's are participating for the first time.

The trend is also emerging in continental Europe, with Spanish department store El Corte Ingles using the term "Black Friday", in English, to advertise price cuts and promotions appearing in France and Denmark.

Police were called in to control crowds that had gathered overnight in London, Manchester, Cardiff and Glasgow, drawn by cheap televisions, kitchen goods and clothes. Three arrests were made at Tesco stores in Manchester and officers were called out to four others in the area.

“The events of last night were totally predictable and I am disappointed that stores did not have sufficient security staff on duty,” Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Peter Fahy said.

Queues started forming at Asda's superstore at Wembley, north London, from 0500 GMT. Its doors opened at 0800 GMT and by 0900 many of the best bargains had gone.

"There was a fight in the queue in front of us," said shopper Kristina Butts, 44, who missed out on the Polaroid 40 inch TV and Xbox bundle she was after.

When the last of the TVs discounted by 50 percent to 299 pounds ($469) was sold, a staff member held it up and shouted: "When it's gone, it's gone."

One woman shopper on a mobility scooter drove away from the store shouting: "I will never do this again."

Whether embracing Black Friday makes commercial sense for UK retailers remains open to debate.

"All Black Friday is likely to do is bring forward business from December, reduce gross margins and undermine consumers' willingness to pay full-price again before Christmas," said independent retail analyst Nick Bubb. Retailers that were not involved, like clothing retailer Next, were "thinking long-term and preserving their pricing power", Bubb said.

Asda argues it can protect profit margins by leveraging the huge global purchasing power of its giant American parent Wal-Mart. Dixons says it can maintain margins by placing especially large orders with suppliers so it can secure favorable terms.

Offline capodetutticapi

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Re: Back Friday Phenomenon now Global
« Reply #18 on: November 29, 2014, 02:23:25 PM »
So de trinis go line up by Francis fashion
soon ah go b ah lean mean bulling machine.

Offline Socapro

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Re: Black Friday Phenomenon now Global
« Reply #19 on: December 02, 2014, 10:53:30 AM »
They are taking Black people for brainless fools again!

Black Friday should be a day when we buy from strictly our own Black owned businesses as we are the biggest spenders and only help to keep other groups rich while not supporting our own businesses enough.

In fact we Black folks should make every Friday a Black Friday by shopping at strictly Black owned busnesses on a Friday to show support for own and so gain a little more respect in the eyes of other groups who also do the same but don't make a big announcement about it as it is natural for them to support their own 7 days a week.
« Last Edit: December 03, 2014, 10:09:26 AM by Socapro »
De higher a monkey climbs is de less his ass is on de line, if he works for FIFA that is! ;-)

Offline Deeks

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Re: Black Friday Phenomenon now Global
« Reply #20 on: December 02, 2014, 07:36:41 PM »
Socapro that will happen when Black people make a serious attempt to own their own businesses. So the socalled Black boycott of Black friday is a dream.

Offline Dutty

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Re: Black Friday Phenomenon now Global
« Reply #21 on: December 02, 2014, 07:43:36 PM »
buh WDA is dis? Polaroid does make TV?

Little known fact: The online transportation medium called Uber was pioneered in Trinidad & Tobago in the 1960's. It was originally called pullin bull.

Offline Brownsugar

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Re: Black Friday Phenomenon now Global
« Reply #22 on: December 03, 2014, 08:11:36 AM »
buh WDA is dis? Polaroid does make TV?



Dutty!!!!  Where yuh been??!!!
"...If yuh clothes tear up
Or yuh shoes burst off,
You could still jump up when music play.
Old lady, young baby, everybody could dingolay...
Dingolay, ay, ay, ay ay,
Dingolay ay, ay, ay..."

RIP Shadow....The legend will live on in music...

Offline grimm01

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Black Friday Phenomenon now Global
« Reply #23 on: December 03, 2014, 09:18:20 AM »
buh WDA is dis? Polaroid does make TV?

This isn't the same Polaroid that used to make camera and film when yuh was growing up. That company went bankrupt and its assets and brand were sold off to private investors. The Polaroid stuff yuh see today is manufactured by others under a license to use the brand and IP.

In other words the company that built the brand is dead and the name is now whored out to sell cheap consumer electronics.

Offline Deeks

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Re: Black Friday Phenomenon now Global
« Reply #24 on: December 03, 2014, 04:22:45 PM »
name is now whored out to sell cheap consumer electronics.

That is a bit harsh!

Offline Dutty

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Re: Black Friday Phenomenon now Global
« Reply #25 on: December 04, 2014, 09:11:20 PM »
buh WDA is dis? Polaroid does make TV?

This isn't the same Polaroid that used to make camera and film when yuh was growing up. That company went bankrupt and its assets and brand were sold off to private investors. The Polaroid stuff yuh see today is manufactured by others under a license to use the brand and IP.

In other words the company that built the brand is dead and the name is now whored out to sell cheap consumer electronics.

Thanks for the info...at least ah know what not to buy when 'Kodak' start sellin TV too

Brownie I dey gyirl, ah jus doh have de kinda time to cyber-lime no more.....but ah does lurk every now an den
Of course like others, when it have big games on I runnin hard to jump on de RWB wagon ;)
Little known fact: The online transportation medium called Uber was pioneered in Trinidad & Tobago in the 1960's. It was originally called pullin bull.

 

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