By Steve Rowen, Managing Partner
December 1, 2009
For my part, a true Bostonian, there was only one place to go. No suburban mall would do, it was the CambridgeSide Galleria or bust. The mall itself opened at 7AM, but the parking garage had opened at 1AM to accommodate customers who would be visiting any of the anchor stores (Best Buy, Macy’s, Sears) that had elected for 4 and 5AM opening times.
In my defense, I meant to get there by 8AM, but the State Police Cruiser blocking entrance to the parking garage’s access road at 7:55 was the first sign that I need not be in a hurry. I was guided, along with several thousand newfound friends, away from the mall’s oversized parking garage and several blocks away to a secondary garage. By the time I was within the mall’s unique chaos it was closer to 9AM.
Did I mention I’m slightly claustrophobic? This was the wrong place to be. The CambridgeSide Galleria (with its very narrow open areas) was absolutely teeming with people, and a disproportionate percentage of them were teenagers with shopping bags in hand.
My first stop was the toy store. Last time I was here, it was a Kay Bee Toys, but now, sadly, I entered ToyZam! Here, I asked the same two questions I would ask of every store I’d enter today: what were the hot deals, and were they still available? The only deal ToyZam! was running (with a lazy-bones opening time of 7AM) was a buy-one get-a-second half-off on Fischer Price dolls, which I was assured were still available. I have six nieces and nephews, but sadly (for my wallet) none of them would have any interest in dolls. The store was not in bad shape, but it didn’t hold any gift ideas for my tribe. I moved on.
From here on out, this mall adventure would strictly be a research project. The kids were the only ones on my list still needing gifts, and I was pretty sure I wouldn’t find those gifts today. That would require some ideas from their parents and a few clicks online at a later date.
Hence, my next stop was AT&T wireless. Why? Why not? It was absolutely jam-packed with people waiting for customer service and new phone activations. I stole a moment to ask my questions – no Black Friday specials, just one deal that ran the whole weekend: a Pantech Impact phone for a $1 with a two-year activation, and plenty of them still left (in both pink and blue). Onward!
My next logical stop was the Apple store. Gone were the pale colored tee-shirts of geniuses and customer service reps – the entire team was sporting festive red. I was able to snag a young associate to answer my questions, which despite the massive sea of red was no small feat. This place was buzzing. Why? One hundred dollars discount on a MacBook Pro, a couple of small deals on traditional iPods, and $20 or $40 off an iPod Touch (based on the number of gb). The store had “only” opened at 7, and my associate had informed me that it had been a busy opening, died down an hour or so later (when I was looking for parking), but had just gone gangbusters all over again. This was clearly not the time to ask why my iPhone stopped populating the “sent” folder of my email.
In fact, now, at 9:20AM, it was becoming clear to me that I was part of the third wave. Wave One had been the crazies (the 4AM deal hunters who may well have been standing outside in a line since when I was still having an Irish Coffee after Thanksgiving dinner). Wave Two had been the early birds (who likely didn’t benefit from any of the crazies’ 4AM deals, but were able to get into the parking garage without issue at 6:30AM and were now finishing up their shopping). I, unfortunately, was part of Wave Three: those who sleep in a little too long, look for parking for an hour, get caught in the mad volume of mediocrity, and probably don’t get any really desirable deals to show for it. I needed to visit a place where Wave One had been.
When I walked into BestBuy (4AM opening time), I was impressed at the store’s overall condition. Busy? Yes. Loud? Yes, indeed. But it didn’t look demolished. I was lucky enough to get the attention of an associate who was willing to have a conversation with me while several other customers lined up behind (presumably with their own questions, but nonetheless polite enough to bear with mine). When he arrived at 4, he was astonished to see that the line to get inside ran the length of the mall. The big deal of the morning was a laptop that was sold out in an hour, but that, in his opinion, wasn’t really worth it – an antiquated “last year’s model” product. The other one promotion that had them lining up had been on video game consoles (PS3 and XBOX 360) bundled with game “packs.” For example, customers could opt for a PS3 (120 gb model) with 2 new youth-oriented games for $299, or an XBOX 360 with 6 older games (including more adult titles such as SpiderMan) for $300. How do I know all this detail? Because there were stacks and stacks of both systems in the front and back of the store. No out-of-stocks there.
In his opinion, the best deals of the day were on open-box items. He showed me a 52” Samsung 1080p LCD TV for $1039, which had been priced at $1300 just 30 days earlier. Tempting, but I had neither the room nor the need. In keeping with his notion that many of the “new” promotional products were last year’s models, the new, in-box LCD deals didn’t grab me at all, with horizontally stacked piles of Dynex and Insignia LCDs ranging from 32” to 40” for $299 to $499. In fact, I found the exact Samsung 32” LCD that I had bought 6 months ago at Costco for $20 less than I had paid in the summer. Hardly compelling.
Piles of blue-ray players were also still available, with a Sony model for $129 (down from $199, not a bad deal), but at this point I was tired and had to remind myself why I was here – research, not self-gifting!
My final stop was at the mall’s CVS. There was no way I was going home empty handed, and I desperately needed toothpaste. Despite the fact that my brand was not on sale, after waiting in one of the longer lines I’ve ever waited in for toothpaste, I felt compelled to ask the cashier my two questions. At this point it was nearly 10AM (the mall’s usual opening time), and having been there for 3 hours, this cashier already looked tired. She told me that they had no Black Friday-specific deals, but a large store sale to last all three days of the holiday weekend. Even so, she told me, they were busier than she had ever seen.
Of course, there is no way to determine total spend from this anecdotal visit. But I can say in all good faith that this year’s numbers of shoppers and shopping bags far outweighed what I saw last year. A good sign for retail!
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