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Tagged: black friday

Our best freaking stuff right now:

November 24, 2012
14:46 • 6 months ago

  • 20.7% jump in online sales this Black Friday, compared to last year — beat the lines, anyone? Obviously this may be is a drawback to some, as smaller, independent businesses might not have the ability to run a major online selling and mailing operation. But when you’re offering people a chance to avoid stuff like this? Not a very hard sell. source

November 23, 2012
14:42 • 6 months ago

Please don’t act this way for the occasion of Black Friday, everyone, and if you’re somewhere where a fracas like this breaks out, cut outta there. It’s dangerous, and reading reports/seeing videos of horrible incidents like this (and much, much worse) have become a very unwelcome holiday tradition in recent years. source

December 13, 2011
11:08 • 1 year ago

  • 29% drop in Best Buy’s profits in the third quarter source

» Too many deals? Best Buy, which has become shorthand for “company that throws all its chips in on Black Friday,” lost its bet on this year’s Black Friday, as its third-quarter results (which include the waffle-iron-rioting-day) showed major weaknesses, as discounts got people into the stores but failed to get them to actually work as loss-leaders. ”They were more promotional and that doesn’t bode well for the holiday season, which is going to be very, very intense,” noted Barclays Capital analyst Alan Rifkin.

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November 29, 2011
00:04 • 1 year ago

  • 150 counterfeit websites taken down on Cyber Monday source

» Don’t mess with our passion for shopping. After such a turnout for Black Friday, shoppers were ready for online deals on Monday. So were websites touting fake merchandise — from sports jerseys to DVDs to accessories. This was a part of the investigation called “Operation In Our Sites,” which has seized 350 such counterfeit sites since 2010.

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November 27, 2011
20:34 • 1 year ago

  • $52.4 billion spent on Black Friday weekend (whoa)
  • $45B the amount spent during Black Friday weekend last year; that’s a 16 percent jump, for those playing at home
  • 226M number of shoppers over Black Friday weekend; that’s also a huge leap from 2010, and a record number
  • $398 the amount spent per customer on Black Friday weekend — a jump of more than $40 from 2010 source

» A big win for retail, but for humanity … eh. The heavy spending this year came with a number of downsides, most notably in the form of a series of customers-acting-crazy moments. We covered a few of these over the weekend, including an overzealous pepper sprayer and a riot over $2 waffle irons. Sure, the economy needs a serious kick in the pants, but we hope we can get said kick in the pants while being nice to our fellow human beings. Fortunately, tomorrow is Cyber Monday, where the problems with physical shopping don’t exist. Unless you know a way to shut off your neighbor’s internet. In which case you’re evil and we don’t like you anymore.

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November 26, 2011
12:08 • 1 year ago
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November 25, 2011
17:14 • 1 year ago
In more awful Black Friday news: That stain on the ground in front of this San Leandro, Calif. Wal-Mart is in fact blood. Yes, a guy was shot during a robbery attempt, and is currently in critical but stable condition. Yikes. (Photo by Dean C. Smith/KGO)

In more awful Black Friday news: That stain on the ground in front of this San Leandro, Calif. Wal-Mart is in fact blood. Yes, a guy was shot during a robbery attempt, and is currently in critical but stable condition. Yikes. (Photo by Dean C. Smith/KGO)

11:55 • 1 year ago
10:27 • 1 year ago
08:22 • 1 year ago
peterfeld:

Enjoy your Black Friday shopping, everyone!

It only figures that this already existed pre-incident.

peterfeld:

Enjoy your Black Friday shopping, everyone!

It only figures that this already existed pre-incident.

Recent posts and stuff we dig:
08:14 • 1 year ago
I heard screaming and I heard yelling. Moments later, my throat stung. I was coughing really bad and watering up.
Porter Ranch, Los Angeles, California Wal-Mart customer Matthew Lopez • Describing what happened after another customer, who authorities say was “competitive shopping,” pepper sprayed 20 people (including children!) in an attempt to beat everyone else at getting stuff. Considering, you know, this incident and this incident, the usage of pepper spray seems incredibly ironic. Authorities are looking for the person who sprayed her fellow shoppers in efforts to buy a new Xbox 360 or something similar. Humanity sucks sometimes. source (viafollow)
November 21, 2011
21:57 • 1 year ago
Occupy Best Buy: Today in co-opting a movement to get the cheapest crap possible on Black Friday. The site prominently claims that “this website is not affiliated with Best Buy.” But we wouldn’t be surprised if it actually was. (thanks Buzzfeed)

Occupy Best Buy: Today in co-opting a movement to get the cheapest crap possible on Black Friday. The site prominently claims that “this website is not affiliated with Best Buy.” But we wouldn’t be surprised if it actually was. (thanks Buzzfeed)

November 29, 2010
01:30 • 2 years ago

Was Obama an inexperienced politician when he said he’d repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t tell”? Well, he ran a better campaign than this dude back in 2008. (Thought we’d forget that, didn’t you?) Anyway, John McCain was on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday trying to explain how the current gays in the military policy makes sense, in a way that’s giving Candy Crowley some real meat to chew upon. Meanwhile, large chunks of Americans think the policy should be repealed. And that includes this guy’s wife.

  • See, I’m not like Obama at all! The storyline we’re expecting to see in the next few months goes like this: Democratic senators, like Claire McCaskill, will be falling over themselves to differentiate themselves from the president. Don’t expect her to have a fat lip from playing basketball anytime soon.
  • Soft Black Friday story ruined It seems like your normal mid-afternoon CNN story that you can completely ignore until around the 45-second mark, when the anti-fur protesters show up. Then it gets interesting. Hey protesters: People who watch CNN in the daytime don’t buy fur; they can’t afford it.

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November 27, 2010
23:28 • 2 years ago

  • 2.2% the increase in Black Friday foot traffic
  • $10.7B the total sales tallied on Black Friday
  • 0.3% the increase in sales from last year source

» How it compares: It’s roughly the same increase in sales as last year, but then again, retail stores have been offering sales for weeks before Black Friday, which may have cannibalized the overall effect of the day. On the plus side, at least that collapsed Salvation Army building in Colorado didn’t fall on anyone.

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