Black Friday Mayhem

From sleeping outside all night in anticipation of a store opening at 7:00 am to a worker being trampled to death as the doors open. Nothing is surprising when it comes to Black Friday. Customers went nuts over the deals that stores offered the day after Thanksgiving. At the same store where the man died workers had to repair a door that came unhinged due to the mad rush. One paper said, "shoppers had pushed glass sliding doors to the ground, bending their aluminum frames like an accordion." That is a little extreme. People cannot be saving that much money to justify these types of actions.

I decided to stay out of some of the mayhem and didn't venture out until afternoon. At least by then it wasn't as busy and I didn't travel into any of the major shopping stores. By doing those I also didn't get any o the good sales. Actually I didn't really even buy that much. But at least I didn't get trampled over my a sale-thirsty mob.

Spam Lines instead of Soup Lines

Spam is making a comeback, so says the New York Times. When the economy falls, Spam sales climb. The workers of the Hormel plant in Austin, Minn. have been working seven days a week since July and will continue too with no break in sight except one day for Thanksgiving and one for Christmas. Whether to be mocked or eatten, everyone knows the name of Spam. While other, expensive foods are seeing a decrease in sales, the owners of Spam are sitting back and watching the numbers rise. Spam is a cheap way to get your protein.

Spam was invented by Jay Hormel during the Great Depression. Whether you may want to know this or not, it is a "combination of ham, pork, sugar, salt, water, potato starch, and a 'hint' of sodium nitrate 'to help it keep its gorgeous pink color.'" Besides cheap protein another added benefit is that it can last in its can for years.

Other products that are seeing a rise in sales include; pancake mixes, instant potatoes, vitamins, fruit and veggie preservatives, and beer. A spokesperson for the Safeway grocery chain reported a double-digit increase in the sale of rice and beans. Kraft Foods have also had growth with their macaroni and cheese, Jell-O, Kool-Aid, and Velveeta.

For more information you can access the article at : http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/15/business/15spam.html?pagewanted=2&em

Circuit City's Not the Only One Hurting

A recent article in the New York Times reported Best Buy cutting their 2009 earnings forecast. Lately all we have been hearing about is how bad Circuit City is doing and how they filed for bankruptcy and are laying off thousands and thousands of people. Yet, they're not the only electronics company doing poorly. Best Buy is also hurting. A Best Buy spokesperson is quoted saying, "Rapid, seismic changes in consumer behavior have created the most difficult climate we’ve ever seen," and it was " being hammered by the worst retail environment in its 42-year history." Over the Christmas season the store plans to offer deep discounts to keep customers coming in, which si good for us!!

Maybe now we'll be hearing more about Best Buy performing poorly also. The article stated the company's same-store sales fell 7.6% in October. They predict same-store sales will fall another 5-15% from November to February. Even though many analysts knew Best Buy would have to cut their earnings, no one predicted the magnitude at whcih they would. The forecasted revenue fell from $45.4 billion to $43.7 billion. Expected earnings decreased to $2.30 to $2.90 from $3.25 to $3.40 a share.

To access the article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/13/technology/companies/13best.html?ref=business

McDonald's Reports Big Sales Growth for October

An article published in the New York Times on Nov. 10 reported that McDonald's had an 8.2% sales growth in the month of October. They speculate this is due to consumers not being able to afford more expensive restaurants and they are trying to watch their spending. Many conventional restaurant chains reported step declines in sales during October. Some new products such as the Southern Style Chicken sandwich also drew in people along with the company's launch of its annual Monopoly promotion.

I have actually noticed that I have been going to McDonald's more or even just fast food places in general. It almost seems that its quicker, easier, and cheaper just to eat out as compared to trying to go buy groceries and then cook a meal. Groceries aren't cheap anymore and you also have to consider your time to buy the groceries, the gas to get there and back, and the time to make a meal. As compared to driving two minutes down the road and getting a quick value sandwich.

You can go to http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/11/business/11mcdonalds.html?ref=business to read the entire article.

Pegasus Taverna

Never before have I had Greek food, been to a Greek restaurant, or just basically enjoyed the whole Greek dining experience. And quite an experience it is!!! Pegasus was a very enjoyable dining experience with good food, good drinks, and a good wait staff. For a Friday night, with group of seven women, we were in and out in less than an hour. We ordered appetizers, drinks, full meals and they arrived very promptly, I was shocked. You can't even get that fast of service in Muskegon on slow day. On top of that the waiter never once wrote anything down and got it all the special orders right. He also had quite the personality and cracked dry humor jokes when you weren't expecting it that made the whole table break out in laughter. The food turned out to be delicious and all of us were complaining of how full we were, even though not one of us finished our plates. Overall, this was a great dining experience and I would definetly recommend stopping by this restaurant whenever your in downtown Detroit.

This is a year of firsts for my daughter. First Halloween, first Thanksgiving, first Christmas, first everything! So of course she has to have outfits for every occasion. She has Halloween pjs, a ghost shirt, and an outfit that says "Mommy's under my spell". As for Christmas, I can't even count all of the outfits she has. She'll be wearing them the whole month of December. The only holiday she doesn't have an outfit for yet is Thanksgiving, which they do have, I've seen them but have been putting it off until after Halloween. Although now, even though its not yet November or Halloween for that matter, there are no outfits left. Maybe one or two in a store but as usual, not her size. So maybe she won't have a Thanksgiving Day outfit. Its just crazy they put everything out at the same time and before its even the month of the holiday they're sold out. And they're probably not ordering more. Even the Halloween costumes are practically all gone. I'm just happy I got her early in order to make sure I got her size.

It Pays To Complain

Coming from a small town. You would expect the restaurants in it to be good. I live in Spring Lake, a very small town and I must admit some of the fast food places in it are awful. I would rather drive to a neighboring town than eat at McDonald's, Subway, or Burger King in Spring Lake. I'm not sure if its the workers or the management but your food is either wrong, awful tasting, or takes forever to get.

One experience sticks out in my mind whenever I think of the Subway in Spring Lake and always causes me to go to the Fruitport store. I was on a Subway binge for a few weeks and decided to go to the local Spring Lake one. I walk in and it is very busy but all I can hear the employees complaining about working. There are only three people behind the counter but only two are taking orders and running the cash register, the other is making a sub for herself, which is actually holding up the line. I patiently wait, anticipating my grilled chicken sub and ask for it to be toasted but not too much because I don't want it burnt. The employees are very rude and you can tell they're just annoyed to be working. I get home and go to eat my sub and the chicken is so burnt its brown, the bread is so bad it crumbles when I try to break it off. I was so disappointed I decided to e-mail the general manager and complain.

I actually received an e-mail back from the manager apologizing and asking for my address so he could send me some free sub coupons. I was shocked. I had expected at the most an automated e-mail, but that wasn't the case. Needless to say, the Spring Lake Subway was not where I used my coupons.