You know how it was predicted that Black Friday would be a slow sales day...

Well, it turned out that the shopping day went pretty well.

The story above seemed so very out of line with the MSM portrait of gloom and doom that I was pretty worried about them until I read the blurb in Saturday's WSJ. From the print edition on the front page where they have the "short bits".

Many retailers reported stronger-than-expected turnout for yesterday's Black Friday holiday-shopping debut. But some economists and analysts worry that it is only deep discounts that are drawing shoppers, not underlying economic strength. Without robust consumer spending, sluggish growth could last through the year.

Whew! I feel much better! The world has righted itself in it's course. The WSJ is being "fair and balanced" by bringing us the "it might sound good - but this is the last hurrah before the final collapse" news.

Posted by: Teresa in Money, Money at 08:27 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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It's Black Friday and I went out today... Well, I had to get my Starbucks didn't I?

I also wanted to get to the grocery store (as you may recall I did Thanksgiving dinner last week instead of yesterday) and it too was only normally busy.

The roads were clear, no backups at the usual lights. All is good.

Guess where everyone was... go on just guess...

I passed two malls on my little jaunt today. Each of them had parking lots packed to the gills and half mile backups of cars waiting to get into the parking lot and cruise for the elusive place to plant the car.

I want to thank the news media for letting me know that today would be a slow sales day, otherwise I might have thought that the malls are actually, you know, selling stuff.

Posted by: Teresa in Money, Money at 01:32 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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1 Well it was insane here in Northern Illinois.

Posted by: Contagion at November 24, 2006 02:56 PM (MsT2U)

2 Well, everyone here was at the brand new Ikea. My hubby went for a drive and it took 30 minutes just to get past the Ikea exit on the highway. They DOT had actually put up big, huge flashing signs (usually used in construction) that said "Exit for Ikea at $$$" What a hoot!

Posted by: Joey at November 24, 2006 07:30 PM (58VYB)

3 We didn't brave the crowds, deciding to hole up in the house instead. Just not worth it for what we wanted...

Posted by: pam at November 25, 2006 03:53 AM (l6NIn)

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The news agencies are ramping up. They are putting out the little stories already.

Black Friday, Cyber Monday not as busy as most think

That's right. By Monday at the latest, we'll be seeing the stories of doom and gloom in the retail sector. We'll be innundated with black little stories of how no one is buying anything. Just wait. It's coming. Happens every year.

This is the first year I've managed to snag the "pre-black-friday-is-a-bust" story though.

Posted by: Teresa in Money, Money at 01:09 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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