Topic: Black Friday

Community gathers for Pancakes and Philanthropy benefiting the Salvation Army

October 10, 2009 |

It is not often that you can take $5 and do something that helps your community, but yesterday that was indeed the case at the Salvation Army’s Pancake Breakfast. Almost 400 people came together at the James D. Amos Homeless Shelter on Kraft Street to enjoy a tasty breakfast of Pancakes and Sausage. The money raised is used to help operate the newly built shelter, and to support other Salvation Army programs in our local area. The Salvation Army’s operations in Montgomery County require almost $19,000 a month.

A packed house at the Salvation Army Pancake Breakfast

«Read the rest of this article»

Sections: News | No Comments

Re-thinking values in the wake of tragedy

By Christine Anne Piesyk | December 7, 2008 |

In reading about the crushing death of a security guard at Wal-Mart on Black Friday, combined with the number of injuries, and now a lawsuit against the retailer, and then reading of the shooting at a Toys ‘r Us store, I began to feel as if I were moving through an episode of The Twilight Zone. All this tragedy for a TV? A Computer? The latest video game components?

My stomach churns, and I realize again why the sheer lunacy of queuing up in the wee hours of morning for a bargain has never been on my agenda. Never will be. This statement of the American consumer mindset is appalling, and as a nation, we should collectively be ashamed of ourselves. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Business, Opinion, Spirituality | No Comments

The Upper Room: The things we leave behind

By Rev. Charles Moreland | December 3, 2008 |

I anticipate my daily time in meditation, deliberation and reflection as a spiritual aid in my goal of strengthening and realizing my spiritual resources. I find the devotional, The Upper Room, both valuable and enriching.

On the morning following Black Friday, I read a devotional that benefited and motivated me. I share these reflective comments in their entirety from The Upper Room (12.1.08)., as written by William David Willis of Australia. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Opinion, Spirituality | No Comments

Clarksville’s Black Friday morning looked more like Ash-Gray Friday

By Turner McCullough Jr. | November 29, 2008 |

While merchants regularly count on making forty percent of their yearly earning on the Friday after Thanksgiving. An early morning tour of local shopping venues showed that shoppers were not camping out in anything like the numbers of years past. With all the special advertisements for sales and discounts to be had, parking lots were distressingly empty. Here’s what we found at 2 a.m. this morning:

Our objective was the Governors Square complex, where one finds several of the largest retailers in our community: Target, Circuit City, JC Penny’s, Dillard’s, Old Navy, Sears, Toys ‘R Us, to name a few. Driving through the various parking lots, we found them — unlike last year — disappointingly bare of overnight campers. Target, Dilliard’s, and JC Penny were completely empty, and Toys ‘R Us and Sears had only one car each. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Business, Events, News | 1 Comment »

Black Friday: Retailers cast wary eye on first shopping day of the holiday season

By Christine Anne Piesyk | November 25, 2008 |

Layoffs. Lost jobs. Shrinking 401ks and investment portfolios. The mortgage implosion. A summer of skyrocketing gas prices and concerns over utility costs as cold winter weather settles over most of the nation. Escalating food prices. A general and broad-based unease about the economy.

All of the above are contributing to a cautionary view of Black Friday, that riotous frenzied day-after-Thanksgiving start of the Christmas shopping season. Stores across the country began offering severe discounts in late October and through most of November; they will now offer even larger price cuts in hopes of salvaging what is shaping up as a bleak Christmas in retail.

Though the usual lines of early bird buyers are expected to camp outside stores where deep discounts and special items will be offered, these shoppers will be choosier and less willing grab, charge it and run. Caution and conservatism are the “buy” words for holiday 2008. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Business, News | 1 Comment »

Dow dips below 8,000 as economic concerns skyrocket

By Christine Anne Piesyk | November 19, 2008 |

Shopping for a bail-out.

As the holiday shopping and travel season approaches, worries over the economy are having a sobering impact on the retail season that is usually the most profitable time of the year for merchants.

To make matters worse, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell below the 8,000 mark, closing at 7,997, a five-year low that is in part a reflection of the newest monetary crisis: the big 3 automakers who are shopping for a multi-million dollar bailout that could avert bankruptcy that could further compound economic woes. Standard and Poor’s slid another 6%,a five-year low. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: News, Opinion | No Comments

Early bird shoppers queue up in the cold awaiting Black Friday bargains

By Bill Larson | November 23, 2007 |

For some Clarksville residents, Black Friday started as early as 2 p.m. Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, when they began to queue up at Best Buy. By 8 p.m., lines of bargain shoppers were forming at a number of selected stores — generally electronics stores — around the city.

Cold weather dipping below the freezing mark did not deter these hardy shoppers, many of whom spent the earlier portion of Thanksgiving Day browsing the inch-thick stack of store sale flyers in the daily paper, scoping out the biggest, best sales. Many are motivated by expected “early bird” gifts and extra discounts offered to the first group of people in the store.

Electronics — everything from Digital High Definition televisions to computers or cameras seemed to be the gift of choice, as evidenced by the stores with the earliest arrivals and longest lines. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: News | No Comments

Black Friday: Consumed by consumerism

By Christine Anne Piesyk | November 19, 2007 |

“Black Friday” has traditionally been the start of the holiday retail season, a ghastly exercise in consumerism that has reached epic proportions, taking the focus off the Thanksgiving holiday and instead thrusting the spear of hefty ads sections to be perused during the Turkey day half-time shows.

All week I have been reading about stores launching pre-Thanksgiving Day sales, and “news” stories of 4 a.m. openings and expected lines of customers, steaming coffee in hand, snaking around buildings in long lines, queued up to vie for the best of the best bargains ASAP.

Sorry, folks. I don’t buy it. Or I should say, I already bought it, back in January, when the end of season sales happened. I shopped heartily and at my leisure, picking up great deals for as much as 80% off the lowest ticket price. I keep a covered bin handy in the back of my closet for such purchases; I find, buy, fold or package carefully and store. Comes in handy for occasional birthdays, “just because” gifts, extras for the grandchildren, and of course, Christmas giving. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Business, Opinion | No Comments

© 2009 Clarksville, TN Online is owned and operated by residents of Clarksville Tennessee.
» We are Hosted by Compu-Net Enterprises; In Partnership with Discover Clarksville and Discover Paris