Editing, pictures and page layout by John Schroeck.

1. 12 December 1, 2010 Feature Xavier Newswire
Black Friday 2010
did not have a list of items to
John Schroeck wrestle away from some overly-
Features Editor aggressive twanging grandmoth-
er. In fact I didn’t even wake up
Fairfield, OH – In a sleep-
deprived state, I still found the Stories from the front lines before noon.
I did eventually wander down
energy to brave sub-freezing consecutive year waiting in line streamed into the store. By 4:05 cally-acclaimed (read: panned) to the North Point Mall area in
temperatures at 3 a.m. in hopes at Best Buy for Black Friday a.m. the first people in line were comedy Grown Ups on DVD Alpheretta, Ga. where I saw the
of witnessing something excit- doorbuster deals. already leaving with the TVs they and Blu-ray. unmistakable evidence of people
ing, something that would truly The doors of Target were had waited so long to buy. After I jumped between stores un- who had done all those things.
embarrass me as an American scheduled to open at 4 a.m. I 15 minutes passed, the line began til around 5 a.m., and while I I headed over to the Old Navy,
citizen. spoke with individuals at the to thin and I made my way into did not personally witness any which seemed to be the ground
The men camped in the tent front of the line, as well as the the store and it was packed. mentionable insanity, I did hear a zero of the day since its parking
at the front of the Best Buy line police officers present to keep The electronics section was couple of stories from shoppers lot was still completely full even
were by far the most dedicated the chaos minimized. The peo- particularly filled with people, and employees. as 2 p.m. rolled around. Outside,
of the individuals with whom ple at the front of this line had and I found it difficult to go One man told me that he wit- speakers pumped in electronic
I interacted. They had already only been waiting for 10 total anywhere. nessed a fist fight at Wal-Mart at Christmas music, a genre I would
been in line for 35 hours, 37 hours — Black Friday amateurs I immersed myself into the midnight when the sales began. be happy to avoid for the rest of
by the time the store opened at as far as I’m concerned. crowd and, for a few fleeting While he did not mention my life.
5 a.m.. This marked their 11th As the doors opened, people moments, feared I may never what object they fought over, I Inside, several hundred pairs
make my way feel it is safe to assume that it of boots covered the floor.
out — that I was something fancy like solar The changing rooms were full
was eternally powered oven mitts or an elec- of sweaters and $15 jeans and
trapped in tric Snuggie with cargo pockets. staff that just seemed too tired
Target’s Black An employee at Old Navy to fight the inevitable pile of
Friday black told me that, in the chaos of cast-offs.
hole. the midnight rush, one woman It was clear that the economy
I sought threatened to punch another had been stimulated and that
refuge in the woman’s baby. these people had done their
grocery sec- It truly is the most wonderful patriotic share of consuming.
tion, where time of the year. Hard.
the deals were Emily, the nursing student
great and the
people were
Sarah Wieten from Georgia Southern who
checked me and my $5 turtle-
Managing Editor neck out (yes, college girls wear
few. It was
apparent that turtlenecks — I can totally sex it
nobody cared Alpheretta, GA – I have a up) had the 5 a.m. to 2 p.m. shift
that Pepsi 12- confession to make. I cheated on and was somehow still chipper.
packs were Black Friday. Other more disgruntled em-
two-for-one. I went shopping of course, I ployees sported pajama pants
Everyone was had to for this assignment, but I and bed hair — it was impossible
Newswire photo by John Schroeck
Some Best Buy customers camped out for nearly 40 hours for Black Friday deals. too busy buy- did not camp out, I did not scour to tell if it was on purpose, in the
ing the criti- the ads for the best deals and I spirit of the day or not.
season.
Doug Tifft Thinking such items might
Editor-in-Chief not take as much competition
as the Droids and clothing ad-
Elmira, NY – Growing up in vertised on everything short of
Elmira, a town that is best known skywriting, we didn’t arrive at the
for producing the majority of familiar confines of the Arnot
the world’s fire hydrants and giv- Mall until 7 a.m. — about an
ing birth to Tommy Hilfiger (so hour too late apparently.
we look cool while we get ac- After circling the lot three
quainted with the world’s canine times we cozied up beside a cam-
population, so the joke goes), I ouflage Ford F-150 full of smil-
have always known there was not ing children, two of whom had
much to do around town. just bought new hunting jackets
Maybe it was the six-hour at Kohl’s. They informed us that
drives to get a hamburger or the they wanted a fake Christmas tree
games my friends and I attempt- too, but the lot was sold out.
ed to invent that could be played Ten minutes later, we crossed
while driving 60 miles-per-hour the TV off the list, as Best
down an empty country road, Buy was harder to enter than
but somewhere between age Alter Hall at 10:21 a.m. on a
12 and 18, the realization that I Wednesday. Such things happen
Newswire photo by John Schroeck
lived in a town of few diversions when 5,000 people from a town Target’s doorbuster sale on 40-inch Westinghouse HDTVs attracted the masses Friday morning.
became abundantly clear. of 20,000 descend on one build-
And it appears Black Friday is ing before the sun rises. However, I overlooked a key Mart was open for 24 hours, so and of far better quality than the
another happy example of this. So we just grabbed some free component to the Black Friday all of the lines for doorbusters doorbusters.
I am not a Black Friday vet- pretzels at Auntie Anne’s — the shopping experience. People were already inside the store. The I knew my chances of nab-
eran by any stretch, choosing in- fuel of Black Friday — climbed camped out for these things. deals, however, began at 5 a.m. bing the TV would be low be-
stead to while away my Fridays back in the car and headed away My father and I arrived at Wal-Mart also had televisions cause of the large crowd. When
with tryptophan-induced sleep from the mall, back to a place 3:45 am, and a line was already on sale, but the two offered as 5 a.m. struck, however, the crowd
and a pleasant few hours dunk- where nothing happens. stretched around the building. I doorbusters were both made by darted toward the cameras and
ing on an 8-foot rim over a pack was left to wait for the pandemo- Emerson. While Emerson TVs DVDs. The TVs stood virtually
of neighborhood 11-year-olds.
This year I decided to change
John Stevens nium to ensue.
Target opened its door (sin-
are cheap, they also tend to be of
lower quality. Thus, I decided to
untouched.
My dad and I dashed in,
course, hopping in the car with
Staff Writer gular) at 4:00 a.m., but by the peruse the store, hoping to pick snagged the TV, and made a run
my sister as she attempted to get time I got inside, I faced crush- up something smaller. for the registers.
a $400 32-inch flatscreen at Best Cleveland, OH – Looking ing defeat. When I reached the elec- Despite my own steal, I can’t
Buy. at the bleak 19-inch TV in my Carts were already leaving tronics department, I noticed help but commend one shopper
My mom went next-door for dorm room, I knew exactly what the store with the Westinghouse something. I witnessed at Target. This man
a fake Christmas tree for $40 I would go after this year for TVs. Some people even snagged Amid the Wild West stand-off had nearly every doorbuster item
— and about $100 worth of Black Friday. two or more. between shoppers trying to nab in his cart. Even though he had a
grief from any hearty Elmiran The best deal for an upgrade Dejected, I decided to witness digital cameras, there was a small sleep-deprived, frazzled glare of
raised on hiking into the woods was at Target — a Westinghouse a bit more of the madness at my platform upon which TVs were death on his face, it was clear he
and cutting down their own 40-inch HDTV at a dirt cheap local Wal-Mart. stacked. One happened to be a came out a winner on this Black
Douglas Fir for the Christmas $289. Instead of a line outside, Wal- 40-inch TV, severely discounted, Friday.