If you took advantage of the day after Thanksgiving to sleep in and are reading this over a leisurely breakfast, you may be too late.
Because starting in the wee hours today, in Texarkana and all across the nation, shoppers converged on retailers to get a jump on the busiest shopping day of the year.
Black Friday -- the traditional beginning of the Christmas shopping season -- is today. With Black Friday come some exceptional bargains meant to draw shoppers into the stores.
The name doesn't derive from dread of the crowds, as one might think. No, it's purely commercial. Black ink means profit, red ink means loss.
And for many retailers, today and the rest of the holiday season is make or break time. The public's buying habits mean the difference between a healthy balance sheet--and happy owners, executives, stockholders and workers--and a gloomy annual report.
Some market observers have expressed worry that supply chain issues over the year might mean fewer goods on the shelves -- and fewer shoppers. But other forecasters expect both merchandise and buyers to be in abundance.
We guess many of you will find out for sure today.
So here's what we want to know. Did you get out today and face the Black Friday crowds to get some Black Friday bargains? Do you prefer to wait for another day to hit the stores? Or do you do most of your Christmas shopping online?
Send your response (50 words maximum) to [email protected] by Wednesday, December 1. You can also mail your response to the Texarkana Gazette Friday Poll, at P.O. Box 621, Texarkana, TX 75504 or drop it off at our office, 101 E. Broad St, Texarkana, Ark. Be sure to include your name, address and phone number. We will print as many responses as we can in next Friday's paper.