Black Friday Becoming Black Thursday

Consumers are shown camping at the Best Buy on Hotel Circle NE on Thursday in anticipation of Black Friday, which traditionally marks the start of the holiday shopping season. The store opened at midnight. (RICHARD PIPES/JOURNAL)

What’s wrong?

Are you OK? Is there no holiday in your heart? No money in your bank account?

Too much turkey and stuffing in your tummies, perhaps?

Do you suffer from enochlophobia, the fear of crowds?

Did you not hear the news? A National Retail Federation survey indicated that as many as 152 million of you planned to shop this Black Friday weekend, up from the 138 million who planned to do so last year.

That was, at least, before the news this week that our feckless congressional supercommittee could not get past the pouting and the posturing to reach a debt-reducing compromise that might have saved us from the doomsday swirlie we are heading for. But, really, that was no surprise, was it?

Wait a minute. Was Black Friday passé for you? Did you partake in Black Thursday instead?

My sympathies. And my disdain.

Major store chains decided this year to begin the biggest holiday shopping day the night before, turning early-bird specials into nighthawk deals.

Thus, Black Thursday.

Target, Macy’s, Best Buy, Kohl’s and others opened their doors at midnight. Walmart pushed the clock back even further, opening at 10 p.m. Thanksgiving; Toys R Us unlocked and loaded an hour before that.

So, yes, Virginia, there is a good chance you’ll get that Leapfrog Leapster (half-price!) if your mom or dad mysteriously disappeared last night.

It’s a trend I find as distasteful as another Kardashian wedding.

I may be going out on a limb here, but I suspect our loved ones might have preferred us home for the holiday rather than out in the cold at Occupy Best Buy.

(JCPenney and Kmart stuck to openings of 4 and 5, respectively, this morning, which now seems so late, so quaint.)

Think of the poor big-box employees, deprived of sleep and a semblance of a Thanksgiving. They’re not ER docs, police or other workers used to graveyard shifts, after all.

I earned great respect for retail employees long ago when I was assigned, as all reporters eventually are, to cover the annual Black Friday news story, which is hardly news at all.

Instead of seeking generic quotes from the cold and eager mob gearing up outside for the doors to open, I spent time with the Target team members inside as they cheerfully prepared for the onslaught. It was like watching beavers crafting a dam of twigs before the tsunami.

This year, intrepid Target employee Anthony Hardwick of Omaha, Neb., rebelled against the now-midnight tsunami, launching an online petition to save Thanksgiving by asking would-be shoppers to demand that the store roll back its Black Friday opening time to a more reasonable 5 a.m.

(Think of that — 5 a.m. is more reasonable now.)

“If Target doesn’t reverse its decision and allow associates to spend Thanksgiving holidays with their family, they might suffer from a fast-growing consumer backlash,” Hardwick, a Target part-timer, told a variety of news agencies.

By the time the petition was hand-delivered to the chain’s Minneapolis headquarters this week, Hardwick had amassed 190,000 signatures, more than four times the number he had sought.

Target, obviously, did not budge — though it did agree to give Hardwick the night off so he could work at his full-time job at Office Max today.

So when is early too early? Are we just a holiday season away from harking the herald of a good deal the morning the turkey goes in the oven?

Which is to ask, are we so determined to make this the Best Christmas Ever that we are willing to give up a nice and thankful Thanksgiving?

I’m not. I hope you weren’t either.

I slept in today, forgoing my usual early-morning ritual of fighting the Black Friday crowds, a habit I acquired after writing about it. Today, it did not seem worth rising before dawn to peruse stores picked over hours before.

Instead, I’ll be shopping Small Business Saturday, the new national retail meme that focuses on the little local merchant.

Then there’s the Nob Hill Holiday Shop and Stroll Thursday evening and the Old Town Holiday Stroll next Friday night.

I’ll end up with good gifts, good will, a good night’s sleep and a whole lot more time with family and friends, which in the end, is what this season is supposed to be about.

UpFront is a daily front-page news and opinion column. Comment directly to Joline Gutierrez Krueger at 823-3603, jkrueger@abqjournal.com or follow her on Twitter @jolinegkg. Go to www.abqjournal.com/letters/new to submit a letter to the editor.
— This article appeared on page A1 of the Albuquerque Journal