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• Anonymous

  Its fun to sit in the car with heated seats and watch the show!!! Get there at 11:40 and watch people fight their way in. Walmart needs to take tips from Disney, for crowd control. The Skowhegan walmart shocked me last night when two pregnant ladies weren’t badly hurt, it was only luck that they weren’t hurt. It should’ve been set up single file. Walmart send some associates to Disney for crowd control training, will ya???

• Anonymous

  I believe its time for ALL BOX STORES, WALMART, TARGET, KMART, and Burlington Coat Factory just to name a FEW, that choose to participate in Black Friday. The ITEMS that you PLACE on Black Friday, you must have enough items for everyone and give rain checks when you run out on that 1 day!!! Due to the following news stories, making shopping ridiculous!
  In a disturbing story of out California, at least twenty people, including some children, were injured during the Black Friday rush at a San Fernando Valley Walmart. In an effort to be the first to get her hands on Xbox gaming consoles and Wii video games, one woman actually pepper-sprayed her fellow shoppers!
  Bob Decastro reported that police are still looking for the woman, who was actually able to check out and buy an Xbox 360 at half price! Decastro added that the store stayed open and shoppers went about their business after the incident.
  MSNBC is also reporting many more stories similiar and worse!!!

  Long gone is advertising computers for $250 example and only having 10 in stock for thousands of shoppers. That is irresponsible!!! If you don’t want lawsuits and people dying to get into your stores and harming fellow shoppers on your time, don’t make ridiculous sales, that you can’t uphold! I’m not saying that customers don’t hold some responsiblility here, but innocent shoppers can’t be responsible for those with mental illness. I believe Box Stores are setting the Mentally ill up for failure by advertising something they cannot prouduce for everyone!

• Anonymous

  Stayed home, slept in a little bit, watched some TV, caught up on some work even.  I had no crowds, camping out to deal with.  Canada has a bit of control it seems when they come down, maybe they should petition the state to remove that law that prevents big box from opening on certain holidays, I don’t even see the point of it anymore.

• http://pulse.yahoo.com/_BE5K4BY6CK2TFMMTWIM5B22ZOE David

  I’m sorely tempted to call these people, esp. the ones that got in line Wednesday, L-O-S-E-R-S. But I won’t.

• movingrightalong

  ’tis but a part of the game that holiday shoppers and these retailers play.  All parties involved know the rules of the game, and it’s up to the consumers if they will play and as the checkout registers fly today, it becomes obvious that many do choose to play.  

  I’m not interested in  partaking, but that’s just me.  If the madness of shopping on’ Black Friday’ is your thing, go for it!  Just don’t be upset if you don’t get the thing you wanted because they didn’t have enough of them and you didn’t come in early because you had other things that were more important to you than standing in line for 2 days.  

  I’ve played a lot of games in my life, and the one thing I’ve found to be nearly universally true, is that not everyone wins.

• Anonymous

  Open at oo; oo ? 
  So at what time do they close today ? 
  Is couple of hours before closing the best shop lifting time of the year ? 

  BDN… you report a lot of shop lifting stories on slow news days,  so what happens on that count on Black Friday weekend, I wonder. 

• Anonymous

  Making fun of the mental unstable is cruel. 
  Enjoy yourself.   ; )  

• http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=668056901 Sally Nason

  this has been a law for many years. I don’t understand why people keep going early when they know that in Maine they can’t open until midnight. and I think its horrid that people will stomp and injure people just to get into a building.

• waynorth1

  The music would be the only reason to be there.  Free shipping with on-line shopping and no pepper spray….I’m all set.  Some are “wicked” nice,  some are “wicked” crazy. 

• Anonymous

  Was not just Canadians, a ton of my “friends” on Facebook were complaining last night at 10 that stores were not open.  I chuckled from the warmth of my living room. 

• http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=668056901 Sally Nason

  where was Tzuriel making fun of the mental unstable?

• Anonymous

  Some of those wild shoppers are evil, not mentally ill. They’d take out their own mother if she came between them and a bargain.

• Anonymous

  Every year corporate greed erodes American traditions  by forcing workers to give up more and more of their holidays. Holidays are supposed to be about families, not the time to further enrich corporations. Why can’t retailers skip Black Friday and create Black Saturday? Let people have their holiday and still make a profit? Would that be so bad for the corporate bottom line?

• Anonymous

  Where is there  a sale on senses of humor, Sally ? 
  You should at least rent one, and see what a different it could make to you. 

• Roy Blenkhorn

  Something tells me more ppl get away with it due to the increase of ppl… they actually have to open at 00:01 because it has to be after midnight. .. thanksgiving, easter and christmas it is illegal for a retail store to be open

• Roy Blenkhorn

  I am in with you on that, to stand in line for 15 hours, so you could buy a less superior model of an item and save a few hundred dollars is not a ‘deal’ to me.

• Anonymous

  I turned up to Walmart at 11.30 pm Thanksgiving night, froze for 30 minutes, and was able to get everything i planned on getting plus a lot more…..to think so of the people had been stood waiting since 6pm, they must have been frozen!

• http://twitter.com/rklindell R. Kenneth Lindell

  Playing practical jokes on Canadians:  there’s something our legislature is doing for us!

• Anonymous

  Don’t give’em ideas, 66.  Next thing you know, in one-upmanship, Wallyworld or one of the other Big Box places will move their Black Friday Sales to the previous Saturday.

• Anonymous

  Had to wait, eh?

• http://pulse.yahoo.com/_BE5K4BY6CK2TFMMTWIM5B22ZOE David

  Well said.

• Anonymous

  I would not shop on black friday if I owned the store bah humbug

• Anonymous

  I would not shop on black friday if I owned the store bah humbug

• http://twitter.com/joncob Jon Coburn

  I’m never doing this again…stupid state and backward ways…froze my butt off to get some cheap dvds though…online shopping for me from now on!

• http://twitter.com/joncob Jon Coburn

  I’m never doing this again…stupid state and backward ways…froze my butt off to get some cheap dvds though…online shopping for me from now on!

• Anonymous

  Time machine over there, too, I guess; “The son of a dedicated Black Friday shopper brought his disc jockey system to Best Buy late Friday night”

• Anonymous

  Time machine over there, too, I guess; “The son of a dedicated Black Friday shopper brought his disc jockey system to Best Buy late Friday night”

• http://pulse.yahoo.com/_KJEUWEYRHIPWV3PTTWWNUZ2CTQ mcmaineacjam

  Just don’t go, I don’t.

• Anonymous

  Advertisements on radio and tv stated that walmart in Bangor and Brewer is opening at ten pm, it was walmarts plan until it got foiled, do not let them fool you that the customers just did not read flier

• Anonymous

  It got changed to Midnight.  Look it up, because Best buy opened right at Midnight along with Walmart

• Hussar

  Sounds as if lawmakers in Maine are picking winners and losers instead of the free market.  Why should LL Bean allow to remain open 24/7 on Thanksgiving and a big box store cannot?   Again onerous regulations hurt both businesses and consumers.

• Anonymous

  Or the day after Halloween.

• Anonymous

  People waited in line for entry into Walmart on Thanksgiving?  For a cheaply (foreign) made piece of crap TV?  A reflection on Values is necessary.

• http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=668056901 Sally Nason

  no i just didn’t understand what your mumbling was all about. i actually have a great sense of humor but from your statement it sounded like you were degrading what tzuriel was saying. sorry if i misunderstood what you wrote

• http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=668056901 Sally Nason

  i only saw National advertisements and didn’t see anything that said that Bangor and Brewer Walmarts were going to open at 10 pm. i didn’t stand in the crowds,  I don’t wanna take the chance of getting maced or stomped on

• Anonymous

  It was a nationally run walmart ad, said all stores including Maine opening at ten pm.  Walmart knows the rules, but they are like cops and get away with alot

• Anonymous

  Right. 
  Okay But anyone who says:  I do so have  sense humor,  is surly being caught in act of proving otherwise. That is a test, Sally.

• Anonymous

  I heard about two men running around Walmart with helmets on. Then, I read a story about a woman who sprayed pepper spray at other customers!!! Guess those two men weren’t being silly at all!!! Next year, if I forget my bread for my turkey sandwiches again, I’ll choose the local corner store or wear my helmet!!!  I believe Walmart has proven itself unsafe for Black Friday shopping!!! Change your policies BOXSTORES!! Take clues from DISNEY on CROWD CONTROL and DO NOT ADVERTISE a SALE unless you have ENOUGH stock of the HOT item for everyone to get one or RAINECHECKS!!! Play fair because you never know when you are dealing with a customer who has mental illness. Hype, fatigue, ect mixed with mental illness can be a recipe for disaster, as we see in California! Pepper spraying fellow shoppers is not sane.

• Anonymous

  The front of the BDN page yesterday showed a family in Texas had been camping out in front of Best Buy since Monday!

• Anonymous

  Agree, one day out of the year for people to basically be rude a day after they gave thanks even!  Black Friday has turned into a war zone in some states, death, gun shots, pepper sprays, but people keep going.  I was nuts once 10 years ago to go wait at a store on Black Friday to open. showed up 3 hours before hand, third in line.  Went in after a TV, less then 6 months later, the piece of crap died…I then asked myself was it worth getting up so early for such a deal on that TV…nope, and I haven’t been back since.  Learned my lesson the first time at how stupid this is.

• Anonymous

  I had to read the comment a few times, thought I sampled too much wine. My oldest daughter has special needs, so I was really baffled at first. She was vaccinated at 7 months and it put her into severe seizures for over 2 years before we found a wonderful doctor that was able to get them under control. It left her with some disabilities. She reads well but comprehends at a very low level, tests horribly. We had to fight to keep her in special education as she had lots of early intervention that allowed her to read well out loud. I advocate for children with disabilities and gifted children. We were Blessed with Holland and Graceland. ;-)

• http://twitter.com/joncob Jon Coburn

  I honestly think that its more ridiculous they put “on sale” crap like Emerson TVs

• Anonymous

  “The day after Thanksgiving is typically the biggest shopping day of the year.”

  Looks like someone relied on Wikipedia.

  The Saturday before Christmas is typically the biggest shopping day. (http://www.snopes.com/holidays/thanksgiving/shopping.asp)

  What next, a story about Christmas blues and of how the suicide rate goes up this time of year?

• Anonymous

  Ugh. I accidentally clicked “like.”

  Look, the amazing deals offered for Black Friday are nothing more than loss leaders, designed to get people (fools) into the store so they then feel compelled to buy something at regular price when the amazing deals sell out.

  Anyone with a brain should realize that no store can be clairvoyant and know exactly how many people are going to want a particular item.

  What’s on  sale isn’t the 40-inch television for $250, it’s all of the fools who camp out and will spend money for the sake of spending money when that $250 television’s stock runs out.

• Anonymous

  I think you heard what you wanted to hear. In all likelihood, the ad made no mention of Maine stores.

• Anonymous

  Because L.L. Bean primarily sells sporting goods. Any store that primarily sells sporting goods can remain open.

• http://pulse.yahoo.com/_NXPTPFL746OV2VGR5WBOEUF6W4 Roger

  Ok Canada is our role model for health care and such but if there system is so great why do so many of them come to the US to shop? For those that do not know they do not have to pay the outrages tax here they do there. They are supposed to claim what they buy at the border and pay tax on the items but very very few do. 

• Anonymous

  Or July 5th, and the Battle Hymn of the Republic can be the new Christmas carol,lol!

• Anonymous

  Drove 3.5 hours , stood in the freezing cold for several more , just to buy cheap Chinese junk ??
  Sheeesh.
  Not much of a life for those “Over Homer’s” , is there?

• Anonymous

  I used to have to work on black Fridays. In 15 years it has really evolved. It  gives some insights into just how crazy our consumer driven society has gone. They never have pellet stoves or chicken feed or things that might be of some use on sale. There is usually stuff that will be out-dated or broken by next Christmas, and it’s getting bigger and bigger.

• http://twitter.com/AJWilliams24 Andrew Williams

  Black Friday is way way over hyped.  

• Anonymous

  Really,what does dicks sell then, sporting goods

• Anonymous

  Sales tax in NB is 13% vs 5% in ME then give anywhere from 0 to 8% on the exchange rate and they do not shop here for the tax, they come for variety in shopping, dinning, drive, day trip etc..  and for overall lower prices. 

• Anonymous

  We would sure miss all that sales tax revenue from the Canadians though, would we not?  For example if every Canadian car spends just $1000- likely it is even more- that is $50 extra that the state would not have.  Can you imagine our deficit if the Canadians stopped coming.  Not sure why they animosity towards Canadians.  I say anything that helps our economy is great!

• Anonymous

  i was warm and didnt have to wait in line and did not get stomped or mased while i was shopping online! ………..dam i missed out on all the fun but still got the cheap “blackfridayprices”!!!

• Anonymous

  Just because Dick’s can be open doesn’t mean it has to be open.

• Anonymous

  Absolutely!  This frenzied atmosphere to often purchase ‘things’ that are not needed contributes to America’s stereotype as materialistic greedy consumers…can’t say that I disagree.  I’m with you, don’t choose to “play this game.”

• Anonymous

  Absolutely!  This frenzied atmosphere to often purchase ‘things’ that are not needed contributes to America’s stereotype as materialistic greedy consumers…can’t say that I disagree.  I’m with you, don’t choose to “play this game.”