For about 5 or 6 years now,
there has been a growing backlash against a well-known shopping day called
Black Friday. It’s touted as the “first official day” of Christmas shopping and has
always been held the day after Thanksgiving....today.
This day has become a
frenzied “free-for-all”. Massive crowds of early-bird shoppers get up before
the sun and wait in long lines to storm the doors to get in for advertised specials.
They fight each other for items. They yell and scream at one another. They are
demanding and hostile toward the unfortunate employees that had to be in so
early. And sadly, the crazy tradition keeps getting earlier and earlier with
some stores opening up on Thanksgiving! We don’t like it and won’t do it. We
value our staff far too much. We also don't like to think that those behaviors are a good way to start what is supposed to be a giving season.
We actually prefer our own version
of that 1st Official Shopping Day and call it Plaid Friday. It’s the opposite of Black Friday. It’s nifty, fun,
stress-free, low key and friendly. It’s honest and personal. We offer a
civilized and small town alternative to the madness. We serve refreshments. We
listen to great music. We have specials...honest ones at that.
According
to the founder of the movement, “From
the beginning, the event has framed itself as the antithesis of the
post-Thanksgiving shopping madness.” Plaid Friday is a day where people can sleep
in a bit, get up and enjoy a cup of coffee, get brunch out -- and then discover all the unique and
wonderful stuff that’s going on in their own neighborhood shops. Coffee houses, restaurants and pubs participate right along with local retailers, too. It's fantastic!
It’s a grassroots thing,
but we love it and are happy to have adopted it in 2009!
