Staying Crowd Free on Black Friday

So today was Black Friday....a day that people ventured away from the Thanksgiving dinner table to become fanatic Christmas shoppers!

This is normally the way it is today, and when I drove my daughter to work at about 5:30am today, it looked as though it was going to happen yet again.

People were lined up at Best Buy, Target, Circuit City, Office Depot, Toys-R-Us, even Radio Shack......everywhere! The line were around the building in most cases.

I had decided that I would drive away from the crowds and check out the very same stores away from the malls. I figured that because I would be starting my shopping a little "late" I may not end up with the "treasures", but I would at least not have to fight the crowds. (and I figured tha either way I would come up empty handed.)

So I drove away from Nashua toward Londonderry where I first stopped at Radio Shack in Hudson. It was about 7:00am and the place was empty. I thought they had not yet opened, but they were open since 6:00am. I might have been the 3rd person in the store! Alas, all the early bird specials there were mine!

So after I got everything I wanted there I then went to Staples up the street in Londonderry. (NOTE: I'm not going to tell you what I bought at any point here because I do have gift receivers reading my BLOGS!) Much to my surprise, it was about 7:20pm and they had everything I wanted too. (except the laptop that was on sale)

I was actually too productive in my shopping.....I actually bought my wife too many gifts! (and I have still to buy one gift for one of my daughters)

I then went to Sears Essentiuals in Londonderry....picked up some Halloween Candy for $0.09 a bag and a couple of other small items....but I actually had no plans for that store, but I was making such good time that I needed to stop just to "slow down" a little.

I shot over to Bensons Hardware and then VIP Automotive and bought my wife a few more things, and then stopped for stamps at the Post Office. (I was so succesful in my shopping that I had a boat load of rebates to send in....and BTW, let me go on record saying that the Staples "Easy rebate" system is just fantastic!)

After noon I ended up circling back down to Nashua where the huge lines were at 6:00am...and I found very few people.....certainly not the huge crouds of 5:00am. What gives?

The stores were just a little messy, but not the normal "black friday"mess with items all over the floor. I saw stores with a large number of store employees sort of hanging around.

My daughter said that the store she worked at was busy at first, but the crowds lessened withing a few hours. Could this shopping day have been a dud?

I worry for the economy if it was because if retail goes the way of houses, we are in a bit of a bind.....too many things slumping at one time.

But then, according to this article, Black Friday isn't the huge shopping day that the news makes it out to me.....all hat, no cattle I guess.

But still....we will see if the rest of the country is acting like the Nashua, NH area....very conservative to buy this year!