The Mall on Black Friday: Several years ago, our local mall was bought by a big company. It wasn't doing very well at the time, but they made it worse by closing stores and making it...

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Several years ago, our local mall was bought by a big company. It wasn't doing very well at the time, but they made it worse by closing stores and making it look nicer with murals and carpeting. Someone posted these pictures on Black Friday.

poprock48

Cyber shopping. Reports are that Macy’s in NYC was not it’s normal chaotic self on Black Friday

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

Humm, Jerry, Black Friday is a day of great sell-off during the depression... This is part of the evolution of the Retail-Stores. Now online is the Amazonian Way.

My associating it with the "great depression" is backed by "Black Friday has two relevant meanings. In history, Black Friday was a stock market catastrophe that took place on September 24, 1869. On that day, after a period of rampant speculation, the price of gold plummeted, and the markets crashed."
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/blackfriday.asp

But, wicapedia says: "The earliest evidence of the phrase Black Friday applied to the day after Thanksgiving in a shopping context suggests that the term originated in Philadelphia, where it was used to describe the heavy and disruptive pedestrian and vehicle traffic that would occur on the day after Thanksgiving. This usage dates to at least 1961. More than twenty years later, as the phrase became more widespread, a popular explanation became that this day represented the point in the year when retailers begin to turn a profit, thus going from being "in the red" to being "in the black"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Friday_(shopping)

Sirsnapalot Loc: Hammond, Louisiana

jerryc41 wrote:

Several years ago, our local mall was bought by a big company. It wasn't doing very well at the time, but they made it worse by closing stores and making it look nicer with murals and carpeting. Someone posted these pictures on Black Friday.

Not thinking about Black Friday, I drove to my local Academy Outdoors store, they were so crowded that I could not find a parking spot. Cyber shopping sure didn’t hurt their big day!

tainkc Loc: Kansas City

It kind of looks like a hospital; only that the hallways are a little wider and a lacking those colored guide strips along the floor.

mas24 Loc: Southern CA

And what do we have after Black Friday? Cyber Monday. I did well last year on bargains, on Cyber Monday. Shopping Malls customers are declining, because of parking problems, theft from vehicles, and even an occasional car jacking, that has happened twice in past recent years. I hate shopping at Malls during the holiday season. Too crowded for me.

stu352 Loc: MA/RI Border

I live near a big outlet mall. It was not at all empty on Black Friday. Traffic was backed up onto I495. Local surrounding back roads are blocked, so folks can't try to sneak in through the neighborhoods. I had to get to Lowes for stuff I needed, plus I had to drop something off at my cousin's house, unfortunately on one of the backroad approaches to the outlets. It probably doubled or tripled the distance and time to both. So local retail isn't dead yet, at least on BF.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

dpullum wrote:

Humm, Jerry, Black Friday is a day of great sell-off during the depression... This is part of the evolution of the Retail-Stores. Now online is the Amazonian Way.

My associating it with the "great depression" is backed by "Black Friday has two relevant meanings. In history, Black Friday was a stock market catastrophe that took place on September 24, 1869. On that day, after a period of rampant speculation, the price of gold plummeted, and the markets crashed."

Right. That was my first experience with the term. Now, it applies to both good and bad experiences. Confusing? Just a bit. : )

bobmcculloch Loc: NYC, NY

jerryc41 wrote:

Several years ago, our local mall was bought by a big company. It wasn't doing very well at the time, but they made it worse by closing stores and making it look nicer with murals and carpeting. Someone posted these pictures on Black Friday.

Kingston?

Silverrails

jerryc41 wrote:

Several years ago, our local mall was bought by a big company. It wasn't doing very well at the time, but they made it worse by closing stores and making it look nicer with murals and carpeting. Someone posted these pictures on Black Friday.

That's Online Shopping assisting in the demise of many iconic Shopping Malls, they just tore down a Mall in Pontiac, Michigan that had slowly died, one store at a time. Sad indeed. It might be replaced by an Amazon Wearhouse.

f8lee Loc: New Mexico

dpullum wrote:

Humm, Jerry, Black Friday is a day of great sell-o... (show quote)

Actually, having been in the retail industry for decades I remember the term being derived from the concept that it was only by the Friday after Thanksgiving that retailers were "in the black"; that is, profitable - when viewing the numbers over the year - much like what they call "Tax Freedom Day" is, conceptually, the first day of the year US employees moneys are going to themselves instead of Uncle Sam.

Hamltnblue Loc: Springfield PA

The media has turned the mall into a thing to be feared. People simply respond and stay away.

johneccles Loc: Leyland UK

Here in the UK we copied this idea from the US a few years ago. Now it has little meaning as shops constantly discount goods at this time of year up to and after the New Year.

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

Malls killed the great department stores... for example J L Hudsons in Detroit's downtown. The store closed Jan. 17, 1983, after more than 90 years of business. Covered a city block, 25 floors, two half-floors, a mezzanine and four basements, 2,124,316 square feet. Christmas was like in the movies!! The Malls were more convenient than the center of Detroit, certainly safer as Detroit declined and jobs disappeared.

Now the computer/net/Amazon is killing the malls. Malls are great for fitness... long air conditioned walks and stair climbing.

When I worked for 5years, Hudsons was within walk and lunch distance, you never saw the same thing twice.. so much to see... everchanging displays.
https://www.historicdetroit.org/buildings/hudsons-department-store

georad Loc: Northern Ohio

Growing up in the 50's. Cleveland had a most vibrant downtown shopping area. Great and wonderful department stores. At Christmas, they showed off their decorated windows with moving santas and colorful displays. Huge Christmas trees and full floor toy displays showing the wonderful Lionel train setups. For those that remember those days in Cleveland, the stores were: May Company, Baileys, Bonwit Teller, Sterling Lindner and Davis, and Higbees. You can still visit the Higbee building which is now a casino.

Oh well nothing remains the same - but I have those dear and precious memories.

georad