Do we ever count on discounts
Brass knuckles? Did she really say that?
Yes, Virginia, the woman on the radio really did say, “You won’t need brass knuckles” to get the Christmas deals at her wireless store today. And thank heavens for that. But everywhere else, you’ll need lots of coffee.
Kohl’s is opening at 4 a.m. An hour later, doors will open at Fred Meyer, where socks will be half-price until 11 a.m., in keeping with a tradition started by Freddie himself.
“Mr. Meyer decided that customers need socks, especially in the winter,” said store spokeswoman Melinda Merrill. The chain expects to sell 1.3 million pairs in six hours.
I don’t know if cheap socks started what is now known as a “doorbuster.”
But I do know that it would take something more than Gold Toes to get me out of bed before dawn and into a crowd of sleep-scented people more juiced up than Barry Bonds.
What would it take for you?
“I’m thinking cashmere,” said Jodi Davis, of Bremerton, eating lunch downtown the other day. “And I guess I would consider getting up at 4 a.m. for a Balenciaga bag.”
“A Viking range or a Sub-Zero refrigerator,” said friend Bayda Rutledge, of Seattle. “I’m not going to get up for a sweater. They’d have to throw in a turkey.”
Across the table, Laura Boegtlin shook her head.
“The consumerism gets me down,” she said. “I have seen people camp out for a GameCube. Why? What are you teaching your kids?
“It’s sad to me.”
Yes, but like it or not, doorbusting has become a great American pastime.
Pick the right doorbuster, the strategy goes, and wallets will open for other things. In fact, the National Retail Federation estimates that 2007 holiday sales will be up 4 percent from the 2006 season.
But consumers may have less holiday money this year, thanks to a sputtering stock market and runaway gas prices. That also means we have more power, since retailers will really have to be creative to get us to part with our dollars.
So what would do it, and at 4 a.m., no less?
“An expensive, name-brand item that I would recognize,” said Elizabeth Van Gytenbeek, in Seattle from Montana for Thanksgiving.
“But they would have to reassure me that there would be more than three in the store,” she said. “And it would have to be at least 40 percent off. That’s the borderline discount.”
David Levy, a Seattle marketing consultant, wishes doorbusters weren’t just limited to department stores.
“Don’t you think the real-estate market could use a doorbuster?” he asked. “I can’t believe there’s a buyer for every condo in Belltown. How about ‘Between 4 and 6 a.m., you buy one bedroom and you get the second bedroom free!’ ”
But why stop there? Levy asked. How about doorbusting Springsteen tickets? Diamond earrings? BMWs? Something from Tiffany & Co.?
“Get in early enough,” Levy posited, “and we’ll knock a couple thousand off!”
Even if thousands of dollars aren’t being knocked off, so many of us are willing to risk sleep and good sense for doorbusters. I think it’s because we like to feel like we’ve won something, that we got something that other people missed. We got a deal. That’s an American thing, too.
But is it something to be proud of?
Dan Lunscombe was in town from Melbourne, Australia, with his band, The Drones, to play two nights at The Showbox.
He didn’t know what a doorbuster was, so I explained how stores wildly discount certain items, but only for customers who get to the store before the sun on the day after Thanksgiving. It’s tradition here.
His brow furrowed.
“I guess the question is, why do they make people do that?” he said. “Are they sadistic or something?”
Well, no, it’s just …
“I think it’s cruel,” he said. “Why can’t they sell the same items at the same price at normal times? Can’t they?”
Yes, but … What fun would that be?
Nicole Brodeur’s column appears Tuesday and Friday. Reach her at 206-464-2334 or nbrodeur@seattletimes.com.
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