All this talk of Black Friday and shopping got me to wondering. What do most folks mean by "shopping"? Allow me to explain.
My maternal grandmother loved to shop. She went shopping (non-grocery) at least once a week. It was both a form of exercise and entertainment.
In the early 1960's, the Cherry Hill (NJ) Mall opened near us. My grandmother was there like a shot, since this was one of the nation's first malls and the first to which she was close enough to have access. She lived about 160 miles from us in South Central Pennsylvania.
Now to her, shopping and buying were entirely different activities. Shopping was looking, comparing, seeing what was available, and generally checking out the goods.
Every so often, my grandmother would see something she actually thought was something she wanted for herself or something she thought would make a good gift for those of us to whom she gave gifts. She also might have had her eye on something for some time and the price was finally right. (I did this myself with a top coat at Bloomingdale's. It was a gorgeous grey hounds-tooth that started at $800. I paid $225 as I waited for the markdowns.)
The frenzied buying (not really shopping) is pitiful. These people are out there buying because they feel an obligation to do so. My grandmother supported those retailers throughout the year and they knew it.
These folks mobbing the malls are bad at planning and bad with their wallets. I bet they're not getting any bargains at all.