"Black Friday"
In the United States, we all know about "Black Friday"....the deals, the HUGE sales, the long lines of shoppers.........in general retail mayhem.
Even though, this year "Black Friday" will look very different from years past, I've never been a fan of "Black Friday" in general and I will choose to call any and all promotions I do on Thanksgiving weekend, Pōmaika'i (good fortune or blessings).
I worked in retail management for many years, so I ALWAYS worked on "Black Friday". For me, Black Friday meant long hours prepping the store for the crazy weekend, standing on my feet for 8-10 hours a day dealing with hundreds of customers now irritated from lack of parking spaces to get into the mall and excessively long lines to buy those SALE items. I never quite understood why shoppers would actually subject themselves to this torture, and the vibe just always seemed dark and ominous to me.
Interesting that prior to the evolution of today's Black Friday which is purely driven by capitalism and the desire for business to get in "the black" or profitable for the year.... the adjective "Black" has been used as a term to describe a calamity or an unfortunate event.
In the late 1800's, two American businessmen caused panic by manipulating the gold market ( happened on a Friday, hense called Black Friday ) and driving down gold prices causing people to lose hundreds and thousands of dollars.
In the 1950's, much of our economy was driven by manufacturing and factory work. The day after Thanksgiving seemed to be a day that an excessive amount of factory workers called out sick.
And of course, the evolution of retail, the increasing popularity of shopping malls and the rise of big box retail pushing SALE and starting the holiday shopping season and hoping to get your dollars making Black Friday what it is today.
What started with a day of Thanksgiving ( in "American" culture ), sharing food with family and friends has morphed into an entire weekend of shopping.
What happened to the days of browsing the Sears or JcPenny's catalog picking out the 1 or maybe 2 toys that we would get to open up on Christmas day?
The days of spending less and enjoying more?
And how did we get to the point that ads for luxury vehicles or handbags that cost a month's rent are absolutely the perfect Christmas gift?
This holiday season, if you choose to give gifts....please shop small.
Support your local businesses.
Support small business, the mom-n-pop shops, the market stalls.
Especially in this unprecedented year, these are truly the businesses that need your support, and where you can get that special and unique item.
UPCOMING PROMOTIONS & EVENTS: click on photo links for more info
This is a 12 Hour ONLY sale ........ GET ON IT and shop your local faves!!
And just a reminder for all my Australian customers.....
they offer FREE SHIPPING WORLDWIDE!!!
I will be offering 20% off the entire website from 11/23-12/13 as a participating vendor in Honolulu Magazine's SHOP LOCAL campaign with a collective of other small local businesses.
At the time of publishing this blog post, due to COVID-19, I will only be participating in one Christmas market, the Aloha Home Market in Kailua on Sunday 12/12 from 9-2:00 - Booth #206
I will also be honoring that 20% discount at the Aloha Home Market on 12/12 .
CHECK OUT #SHOPSMALLHAWAII GIFT GUIDE
And of course...... you can always shop online for the entire collection of 21ºN
