Retail- Once Your Naked There's No Place To Go

When it gets hot out after you've taken off your shirt. Then your pants & socks. Then finally pulled down your underwear standing there naked and still too warm.. there's no place to go. Retail's 'Black Friday' is like that.

Laura Northrup | Consumerist: Retail Experts: Sorry, But Stores Will Open Even Earlier This Thanksgiving-- " No retailers have announced their plans yet, but experts told the WSJ that they anticipate some will try the early-opening trick."

There's an old show biz saying 'If it works, beat it death till it doesn't'.

A few years back the wife left retailing in the mall for greener pastures. Gone are the days she had to work late at night. Sleep 4 hours then slep back to the counter next day to greet the other half of the store's guests.

Over the years there was only two days left the store wasn't open. Thanksgiving and Christmas. Eventually that changed too.

Face it the act has gotten old. Only fools haven't figured out they are paying full price. There's no difference when a store brings in merchandise and establishes a price point of let's say $100 then marks 80% off then when they regularly sold the item the rest of the year for 20 buck$ anyway. Hey that's showbiz. Give the suckers what they want.

Another part of the act is to hire Christmas help promising a few of them will be permanently hired after Christmas. Indeed some are. They are hired long enough to help do the much dreaded inventory in January or February, then dropped like a lead balloon under the premise business is slow. No Shit Sherlock!

This might come as a surprise to some folks, but Christmas comes on December 25th every year. That means shoppers only have 364 days to shop for it. Instead clerks 'guest representatives' are forced (I do mean forced or get fired) if they don't provide 'guests' with a positive smile and cheerful greeting after 4 hours sleep.

Allow me to remove the retail emperors' clothes.
These stores would love nothing more then stay open 24/7/365 and have no problem doing so (some already do). However like any quality strip joint, coming out initially naked takes all the fun out of it. So they close for a few hours to make it a bit more enticing. All professional strippers (like retailers) know if they were to come out full monty there'd be no reason for suckers to throw away their earnings.

I know it's already September and I might be a little late saying this, but Merry Christmas << oops. Happy Holidays.