Friday, November 9, 2012

Are you ready for Black Midnight?

A local mall in our area is opening at midnight on Black Friday and one of our stations is doing a live broadcast during the entire time.

The Wall Street Journal recently featured this new phenomenon ... below is some info from that article.

Best Buy Co. is joining the list of big store chains opening at midnight after Thanksgiving this year in hopes of getting a jump on the competition, following recent announcements by Target Corp., Macy's Inc. and Kohl's Corp.

U.S. retailers traditionally considered Thanksgiving a de-militarized zone of sorts in their annual skirmish for shoppers' holiday dollars. But that has eroded over the past decade as more chains have extended hours and advertised early specials before Thanksgiving.

"Once one retailer goes early, the rest feel obligated to follow, and you have to wonder what gain there is for any of them," said Joel Bines, managing director of the global retail practice at consultancy AlixPartners.

Many Wal-Mart stores are open 24 hours, and others opened at midnight on Black Friday last year to sell toys. But the company has thus far postponed selling its discounted flat-screen televisions and other mega-deals until just before dawn.