Getting Out

Some of you may have heard about, or experienced Black Friday. It is the day after Thanksgiving and is like our Boxing Day sales gone bonkers. It is not a federal holiday, but is a public holiday in 24 states. Many people take a day's holiday anyway and have a four day weekend, the kid's school is shut for six days here, and lots of other places close. But is also one of the busiest shopping days in the USA, with crazy mad sales deals. It is also considered the start of the Christmas shopping season.

Now this might be exiting for some, but it has also started a counter movement to not open shops. The same debates rage in NZ too, about whether shops and cafes etc should open around Easter and Christmas, or whether they should be about family time. I particularly like the REI commitment to closing all a hundred and something of their stores on Black Friday, with the message to get outside to their staff and customers - they are an outdoor gear store for those not in the know. I took the photo below on their store yesterday - which made me smile! We will be outside too over Thanksgiving, somewhere down in Utah (more on that as it evolves).