Did you purchase an iPhone 4 during Tenebrous Friday or CyberSad Monday? Are you prepared to endure a metaphor for a paroxysm of global debt? A man's iPhone 4 (not the schmancier 4s) began "emitting a significant amount of dense smoke, accompanied by a red glow" on an Australian flight last Friday. According to ABC, everyone was fine, and the "red glow was extinguished successfully." It was only a matter of time before Siri got sick of answering our questions and took the easy way out. more ›

On Black Friday itself Americans spent $11.4 billion but that's nothing compared to what we spent over the Thursday-Sunday "Black Friday" holiday weekend. According to the National Retail Foundation $52 billion dollars were spent in that period! And, if the NYC Economic Development Corporation is correct, a whole lot of that cash was spent here in town. more ›

Despite the 9% unemployment rate, unprecedented public disillusionment and the fact that the name of the event itself conjures a pestilence that killed at least 150 million people, Americans came together to spend $11.4 billion on Black Friday, a 6.6% increase and the largest amount ever. "Still, it's just one day," ShopperTrak's founder Bill Martin tells Bloomberg News. "It remains to be seen whether consumers will sustain this behavior through the holiday shopping season." Yes, keep your fingers crossed for more appalling acts committed in the name of unchecked consumerism. more ›

NYC was thankfully spared the worst of Black Friday—after all, nobody got pepper sprayed or shot here. But that doesn't mean it was a walk in the park: tens of thousands of NYers across the state lugged their tryptophan-enriched bodies to stores to suss out deals. And along with them came long lines, fights, and looting. And this is exactly why one can't just go around promising "hot shirtless guys" all willy nilly. more ›

While tomorrow is "Black Friday," the official start of the Christmas shopping season, many retailers have been opening their doors today, on the Thanksgiving federal holiday, to give Americans a chance to spend their money without going to the 5 a.m. doorbusters and not killing workers in a stampede. And, retail experts say, it's the 99% who are the Black Friday fiends. more ›

It's barely after 9 a.m. and many Americans have already gone to and come back from big retailers' Black Friday sales. Especially since some stores had their Black Friday sales start last night: One Queens resident was at the Times Square Toys 'R' Us, which was opening at 10 p.m.; she told the AP, "I thought, good, we'll come here and I won't have to go tomorrow," but then admitted she would also be getting up at 6 a.m. for more bargain hunting. more ›

On November 28th 2008, a Wal-Mart employee on Long Island was trampled to death during a stampede of 2,000 rabid consumers who broke down the doors just before 5 a.m. In a settlement that spared the company criminal charges, Wal-Mart agreed to adopt new crowd management techniques in all 92 of its stores in New York State, set up a $400,000 fund for customers hurt in the stampede, and to donate $1.5 million to community programs in Nassau County. But one penalty still remains, and the Times reports that Wal-Mart is fighting it tooth and nail. more ›

CNN Money reports, "Cyber Monday sales rose 14% this year compared to 2008 and consumers also bought nearly 30% more items per order versus last year, according to research firm Coremetrics. Also, the firm said shoppers bought 10% more items per order online than they did in stores on Black Friday." It's suspected that sales could be $900 million. However, one analyst told Bloomberg News it doesn't mean the retail sector is going to have a happy holiday, "Online retail sales are still the vast minority of total holiday sales. Being such a small number, the results aren’t going to change overall sales this holiday at all." more ›

The National Retail Federation says that Black Friday weekend sales grew slightly, 0.5% over last year, because shoppers were snatching up bargains. The NRF, which expects holiday spending to fall 1% this year, said, "While retailers are encouraged by the number of Americans who shopped over Black Friday weekend, they know they have their work cut out for them to keep people coming back through Christmas. Shoppers can continue to expect retailers to focus on low prices and bargains through the end of December." more ›

Anecdotal reports suggest that crowds on Black Friday—the day after Thanksgiving—were up compared to last year, but retailers won't know how that translated into sales for another few days. Macy's president and CEO Terry Lundgren told the NY Times that over 5,000 waited outside the Herald Square location yesterday (more than last year) and said this year's customer was going to be more careful, "They've got a budget that they’ve planned to spend and I think most consumers will stick to that. We expect that this will be a market-share holiday season. We don’t need consumers to spend more money. We just need to make them spend more money with us." more ›

Three men shot a 64-year-old in Queens in an attempt to steal his new flatscreen television on Black Friday — but the 47-inch TV wouldn't fit in their escape vehicle. more ›

While many are celebrating the slashed prices today, Reverend Billy and his Stop Shopping Choir are lambasting the Black Friday masses and the corporate overlords that preside over them. This morning the good Rev hit Macy's for his annual Buy Nothing Day. In an op-ed yesterday, he wrote, "We'll be there at 5am, when shoppers who have been up all night wait in line rush the glass doors. This is the human comedy at its most sad, and it is an environmental shopocalypse." more ›

Like clockwork, stores hyped up their Black Friday/Doorbuster sales and potential shoppers waited outside for hours, in hopes of getting great deals. A crowd was waiting outside a Jersey City Best Buy; one person told WCBS 2, "There's a lot of people on this line for laptops, like HP laptops for $197. Normally it's $500 or $600," with another possibly bragging that he "was here yesterday since 12 o'clock in the afternoon"—as in noon on Thanksgiving. more ›

Nassau County prosecutors announced today that Wal-Mart will avoid criminal charges for any wrongdoing in contributing to the Black Friday stampede inside a Long Island store that left one employee dead and several others injured. Instead the retail giant will pay out nearly $2 million to community programs and create a fund to compensate victims injured amidst the chaos, as well as instill new crowd-control measures throughout local stores. more ›

A lawyer representing two victims injured in the Black Friday Wal-Mart stampede that left an employee dead has called for control of the investigation be moved to the state attorney general's office. Attorney Bruce Baron sent a letter to Attorney General Andrew Cuomo saying that there is a conflict of interest in the Nassau police department investigating the incident since there is also a civil suit against the county for negligence in dealing with the trampling. Nassau police will continue on the case while Cuomo's office reviews the letter. Lieutenant Kevin Smith told Newsday, "We clearly believe we're a professional police department and we're investigating a matter of criminality here." more ›

Nassau County police offered more insights on what caused a restless Black Friday crowd of shoppers to trample Wal-Mart worker Jdimyati Damour to death. Newsday had an explanation from Nassau Police Lt. Kevin Smith: Apparently people waiting and standing outside the store came into conflict with people waiting in their cars who wanted to cut the line once the store opened, "A whole lot of people started getting out of their cars and made a beeline for that door... It's definitely a contributing factor - the mentality of 'They're not going to cut in front of me.'" As for the lawsuit that Damour's family filed against the store, Wal-Mart said, "We consider Mr. Damour"--he was a holiday hire-- "part of the Wal-Mart family, and are saddened by his death. We have been in communication with members of his family to do what we can to help them through this difficult time. Our associates know that when incidents like this occur, we take care of our own." more ›

The family of Jdimytai Damour, the Wal-mart worker killed in the Black Friday stampede, has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the retailer. Damour, a temporary employee hired at the Valley Stream store for the holidays, was trampled to death by shoppers who had been waiting for hours for Wal-Mart to open its doors at 5 a.m. Newsday reports that the lawsuit faults the store for not providing enough security and says Wal-Mart "engaged in specific marketing and advertising techniques to specifically attract a large crowd and create an environment of frenzy and mayhem and was otherwise careless, reckless and negligent." (You can see one Wal-Mart Black Friday ad here.) Other parties named in the suit are the realty company that manages the property and the security firm for the store; Damour's family "also filed notice saying it plans to sue Nassau County and the Nassau County Police Department." more ›

After five days of gains, the stock market is looking at a lower open today. CNBC reports, "The major indexes indicated drops approaching 2 percent." Joseph Poon, head of Mcquarie Private Wealth Asia, referred to data from the retail industry, "The market is really spooked I'm afraid. We just have to see some stability… the US consumer is usually the guy that's going to pull us back." While sales were up on Black Friday, both in person and online, there were deep discounts that cut into profitability. The National Retail Federation said, "We take all of this into context and realize Black Friday is not going to save the holiday season. Regardless of retail sales, retail profits are another matter. Everything they sold was at a razor-thin margin." And today happens to be Cyber Monday, the unofficial start of the online holiday shopping season. more ›

All the Thanksgiving advertisements for Black Friday sales were just as successful at drawing out the usual hordes of shoppers yesterday. But the general consensus around town was that the crowds weren't making it all the way to the register as sales appeared to be down on the retail's big annual day. The Post talked to parents at Toys 'R Us in Times Square who said checkout lines were twice as long and that hot toys just weren't as likely to be sold out this year. That can't be good news for retailers who already knew that they'd be taking a hit on returns by offering even steeper sales to draw in consumers who have been MIA of late. At Macy's in Herald Square, even sending out a big celebrity wasn't enough to cheer up the die hards who waited overnight for the store's 5 a.m. opening. "Richard Simmons scares me," a young woman in line told the News upon seeing the fitness guru. more ›

This morning, shoppers apparently broke down the doors of a Valley Stream Wal-Mart, and, in the process, trampled a Wal-Mart greeter to death around 5 a.m. The Nassau County police tell Newsday the store was a "mob scene" and that the worker was a temporary, part-time employee. One witness, Kimberly Cribbs of Far Rockaway, said that other Wal-Mart employees (some of whom were crying) asked shoppers to leave:

Though rumors circulated among the shoppers that someone had been badly injured, people ignored the Wal-Mart workers' requests that they stop shopping, move to the front of the store and exit, Cribbs said. more ›

While stores are hoping that Black Friday sales will bring charge-happy shoppers out in full force, Reverend Billy is hoping that people will hold on to their cash. The Rev & Co. were up bright n' early this morning to kick-off their annual Buy Nothing Day at Macy's. At 4:30 a.m. the troupe was "preaching and singing to citizens to accept the Stop Shopping Gospel into their hearts." more ›

I'm only shopping for things that are discounted. Nothing full price."
more ›

Investors are clutching their stomachs as the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell hundreds of points this morning, momentarily diving below 8,000 (with a 600+ drop) to under 8,000. Right now (9:48 a.m.), it's down 262 points at 8,316 points (down 3%). Nasdaq is currently down 1.5% and the S&P 500 is down 2.7%. more ›

READING: Dave Eggers has delivered two (out of three) great novels, and tonight he reads from last one (which is just out on paperback), What is the What. He'll be at the Strand discussing the book and he'll also give a slideshow presentation from a recent trip he took to Sudan. More info here. Friday // 7pm // Strand Bookstore [828 Broadway] // Free EVENT: We love a good pillow fight, and tonight there's a... more ›

Last Friday some shopped til they dropped, while others stopped shopping alltogether. Both groups saved money, and incase you were one of the ones who did so by abstaining from the almighty sale, check out what you "missed": While the lines were long, it's being reported that sales were down. Seems a lot of people didn't want to leave home and did their shopping online. Video via Glenn Gabel.... more ›

As noted earlier today, a number of consumer activists, sweatshop protesters and anti-capitalist agitators have for years been working to turn Black Friday into Buy Nothing Day. Spearheaded by the anti-advertising gadflies at Adbusters, the event calls on individuals to suspend purchases for 24 hours and engage in creative activism to highlight the unsustainable patterns of mass consumer culture. Naturally, New York’s anti-corporate performance icon Reverend Billy is all over this. We spoke with... more ›

Activists trying to turn Black Friday into Buy Nothing Day have their work cut out for them when it comes to consumers like Tom Shea, who waited in line outside a midtown Manhattan Best Buy for 35 hours so he could be the first one inside when the store opened at 4am today. “"If they were selling it, we were buying it," Shea proudly told the Post. His attitude was far from unique; shopoholics like... more ›