Notes on Black Friday

The Joie de Vivre blogger feels that this whole Black Friday thing is getting seriously out of control. We noticed this year for the first time some of our suppliers websites - those with a retail arm - participating in some way with sales and promotions. And we noticed a chain store in Harvard Square offering 50% off ALL their merchandise the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, as well as Black Friday. This strikes us as a race to the bottom - which doesn't bode well for anyone. More sales and constant promotions, lower and lower prices - equals no profit for businesses already struggling to make ends meet. And we're honestly a little offended by American Express promoting "Small Business Saturday" - because far from supporting small business, they take a much higher percentage from small businesses than large ones, and a higher percentage than Mastercard and Visa. And because we believe in shopping small stores all the time, not just one day a year - as do most of our customers - for whom we gave sincere thanks yesterday before the Thanksgiving meal. A meal we did not exit early in order to shop! The day after Thanksgiving has been the traditional start of the holiday shopping season, albeit without sales, for years - the blogger, who has been in retail on and off since high school days remembers well. We believe the name Black Friday originated in the idea that that particular day was the day that put businesses into the black. But it's starting to seem more like the black death to us . . . . anyway, we apologize for the seriousness of this post, but after seeing a Youtube clip of people physically fighting over smart phones at Walmart, we felt impelled to comment. To end on a happier note, we hope our blog readers all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and we hope to see you soon at Joie de Vivre, where it's small business day every day of the year!