Retailers Are Trying to Kill Black Friday

Everyone should go Black Friday shopping this year.

Because the infamous "holiday" may not survive much longer.

I've been an avid Black Friday shopper for years, waking up in the wee hours of the morning (or in the case of the past couple of years- not going to bed at all.)  My personal reasons for going Black Friday shopping are mostly out of novelty.  Black Friday is what you make it: If you drag your friends along with you at 2 in the morning, drink lots of coffee, and play Quelf while waiting in line, you're going to have a lot more fun than the person sitting outside of the store constantly complaining about how cold they are.

Black Friday is intense:

Haha, pun.  Some people are literally in tents.

                                               
But lately some people have been taking it too seriously.  Stories of fights breaking out, trampling innocent employees until the point of death, and shooting fellow shoppers have flooded the media in recent years.  Obviously, this behavior is completely unacceptable and stores are looking for ways to avoid this.

Of course, change in results only occurs from change in action, so retailers have decided to go about Black Friday differently this year.  Whether they are opening at midnight instead of 4 am, offering sale prices at 10PM Thursday night, not requiring shoppers to wait in line outside of the store, extending all sale prices online, or honoring price-matches until Christmas, retailers are drastically changing the dynamics of Black Friday - and this has received vast amounts of backlash.

Whether you agree or disagree with employees having to forgo portions of their Thanksgiving celebrations to come into work earlier - that's not what this blog post is about.  No, what this is about is:

RETAILERS ARE TRYING TO KILL BLACK FRIDAY.

There.

It is my belief that Black Friday will be non-existent in 3 years.  5 years tops.

Black Friday originally coined the name as it was the first day that retailers supposedly were able to turn a profit for the year, thereby their books were not "in the red", but "in the black".  In today's changing world of commerce, retailers have many other opportunities to make sales, and it is not contingent on a singular days' in-store success.

Black Friday, sadly, is now irrelevant.  Profitable, yes; no question.  Necessary?  Absolutely not.  
Granted, I don't have the economic or financial research to back me up here (possible senior seminar topic next year? Hmmmm)  But my theory remains.

I believe that retailers are sick of Black Friday and are trying to kill it.

So celebrate now, joyous shoppers!  For Black Friday is forever changing, and you never know when your last opportunity to experience the madness may be.

Missoni for Target : Fabulous and Finally Mine!

In 7th grade,  I got a subscription to Teen Vogue and my life was forever changed.  For the first time, I saw fashion as not purely functional but as an aesthetic.  I learned the names of designers and developed an appreciation for their art.  Italian designer, Missoni, especially struck a note. 

In a short period of time, Teen Vogue published photographs of both Mischa Barton and Nicole Richie (halfway relevant celebrities back in 2004) wearing Missoni dresses and I was in love (with the dresses).

Missoni is known for their signature zigzag patterns, bright colors, and retro feel - all of which I all love.

But here's the kicker.  Missoni is going to run you somewhere around the ballpark of $50... FOR A PAIR OF SOCKS.  

Socks!!!!

And thus, my 13 year-old, Teen-Vogue-reading self was defeated.  No Missoni for me.

Except all of that changed this past summer, when I stumbled along a fashion blog trumpeting yet another affordable designer-collaboration line at Target.  

**For those of you who are unfamiliar with designer collaborations, here is a diddy from their PR site:

Designer Collaborations is an expansion of Target's existing designer fashion program and each collection is available only for a limited time. Designer Collaborations is a unique program that features well-established designers who draw inspiration from a collaborative partner, muse or creative element. It is a new and exciting way of delivering the latest styles to our contemporary female guests at the prices they expect from Target.

Sounds gooooood to me. 

Last summer, I had been absolutely delighted by Target's Liberty of London collaboration:

(which I bought way too much of), so I was excited to see how they could possibly follow that up.  Well...

EEEEEK!  TOO.  EXCITING.

The collection was to be released in stores at a set date in September, and I was excited to get me some.

Except, small problem.  I knew I'd be in Kirksville in September.  Kirksville does not have a Target (try not to be too surprised).  In fact, the closest Target is an hour and a half away.  Since the collection was to come out on a weekday, I considered the option of making the early morning drive before my 9:30 class to snag what I wanted when the store opened at 8, but ultimately decided against it.  I figured I would just wait for it to go on clearance in a month and grab some the next time I went home for break.

...

I had no idea that this would happen:

And lastly, the most sad:

Do you think that lady was going to personally wear all of that Missoni? 

Of course not!  She was going to sell it on Ebay.  In fact, the day after the Missoni launch, there were 30,000 Ebay listings for the highly coveted items, all fetching outrageous prices.  

Today, there are approximately 12,000 current Missoni for Target Ebay listings.  

Demand for the Missoni collection didn't only affect business inside of the retailer, but also managed to cause an unprecedented amount of traffic on the Target.com website which the server was unable to handle.  The website crashed, and those trying to purchase online (directly from Target) experienced extreme difficulty and were rarely successful.  

Between the website crash and the hoarding/Ebay issue, the whole ordeal created a PR mess for Target, which I won't really get into now (Doing a quick Google search will come up with several blogs and news articles which have addressed all sides of the issue).

I was honestly super bummed that I was unable to get a piece of the Missoni collection, but I refused (on a fundamentally moral basis) to purchase any of it from the Ebay sellers.  I wanted no part in contributing to skeezy profits. 

A couple of months have passed and I had begun to get over the pain of missing the Missoni for Target collaboration.  I am currently home for Thanksgiving break and so with an abundance of time, and a slight shopping itch (unaccompanied with an abundance of $$), I decided to drop into my local Goodwill store.  I had already been completely successful in my finds, snatching up a pair of The Limited dress pants and a pair of loafers when I nearly had a heart attack. 

This...

.... Was staring me in the face.

With the tags still on.

In Goodwill.

And this is one of those moments where you don't ask "how" or "why" or "for realsies?!", you just grab it and buy it as soon as you can, so that you know it can and will be yours forever.

Curiosity did lead me to look up this little gem on Ebay, just to see how much I could sell it for...

50 bucks. I paid 4. (Retail was $23.99)

I would never sell it. 

So a sad story turned less sad and I am finally the proud owner of the infamous zigzags I have admired for 7 years (35% of my life, mind you).

How fabulous is that. 

How a Girl Became a Brother

This past weekend was initiation for my fraternity.  Yeah, I'm a girl... I'm in a fraternity... blah, blah, blah.  Now that we have that over with- Delta Sigma Pi is a professional coed business fraternity that I joined fall of my freshman year and has been positively impacting my life ever since.  I'm trying to write about this part of my life without coming across incredibly cheesy, but I'm realizing that that will be difficult to do.  So bear with me.

Basically, the story goes like this :

     Two years ago I was a cheeky little freshman, overly eager to get involved in one of the 300 organizations on campus (I went to several "introductory meetings" after scoping out the activities fair, including one *very rough* rugby practice)  Finally, I decided that I wanted to go through sorority rush, which at Truman is held a couple of weeks into the school year.  So when I went home for Labor Day weekend, I picked out a couple of cute outfits that would surely impress for the week ahead.  But as I drove back to school on Monday night, I realized that I wasn't really feeling it.
     The previous week, I had remembered an older student wearing a suit (and looking supa fly) and giving a presentation in one of my classes about an organization that they were involved in.  It was a "professional fraternity" for all business, economics, and accounting majors.  Apparently, this organization participated in a little bit of everything: professional development, community service, and countless social events.  I was intrigued... But unfortunately, their recruitment was the same week as sorority rush.  "Well darn, I can't be in 2 places at once" I figured.  And that was that.
    But flash forward to that Monday night of Labor Day, I was completely unsure if joining a sorority was for me.  I remembered learning about the business fraternity and it just seemed so... right.  I'm one of those people who has "strong gut instincts" and they don't usually prove me wrong.  So it was settled, I'd go out for Delta Sigma Pi recruitment and see where the experience would take me.

After 2 weeks of recruitment events (including a "meet the chapter", bowling, a BBQ, community service night, a professional speaker, and an interview), I received an invitation to pledge! So exciting!

I was elected Social Chair for our pledge class and I was in charge of putting on a baller party for the chapter.  My choice of theme?  Lumberjack!!  We ate pancakes and frolicked around in plaid.  It was a party that Paul Bunyan himself would be proud of. 

Finally after completing pledge season, my pledge class was initiated!  The above is a picture of "Cream Family" right after my initiation ceremony.

And here is the lovely Beta Sigma pledge class pyramid!  Taken in Fall 09... and falling ever since.   (I really can't remember a time when we tried to make a pyramid and it didn't fall.)

Now that I have been in the fraternity for 2 years, I can safely say that it was one of the best decisions I have ever made.  I've had the opportunity to make amazing friends, travel to professional and leadership conferences, network with successful professionals, learn more about the dizzying world of business, and be a part of the Iota Nu chapter- one which has won "Most Outstanding Chapter" more times than any other chapter. Ultimately, I can accredit my experience in Delta Sigma Pi with providing me with the experience and tools necessary to land some sweet internships!

As great as DSP has been for my personal benefit, there is an old saying that "He profits most who serves best".  Upon reflection, that is most definitely true.  Every time I have taken the time to help a particular brother or the fraternity as a whole, I have received a great deal of emotional wealth.  Serving as Pledge Class Social Chair, Fundraising Chair, and Chancellor have taught me that.

Anyway, enough sap! Here are some sweet pictures from this past weekend's initiation.
CONGRATS BETA CHI!!!!!!!

Cream Family after initiation

Cream Family watching the Devil Wears Prada :)

Cream Family on a Balcony

POTATO BALL!

Best part of potato ball: if someone catches a piece of your potato, you have to eat it. Haha, sorry Paul. 

My little, Rizwan (initiated Spring 11)

My little, Erika (initiated this past Saturday!!)

Beta Sigma (Fall 09) pledge class pyramid! Taken Fall 11... We fell very shortly after this picture.

My 2 fabulous littles!

~~~

I'm very excited to see what Delta Sigma Pi brings in the next year and a half as a collegiate, and then beyond as a brother forever ! 

Until next time, stay fabulous!

Who you are is who you want to be

Hi, my name is Sarah and I believe that life is what you make of it.  That's why I'm making mine fabulous. 

I made a blog so I could talk about all of the exciting things that are going on in my life.  In the near future, I'll be training for a marathon, traveling across the pond for Spring Break, and moving to Minneapolis this summer for an internship at Target Headquarters. Unfortunately, today itself was less than exciting (I went to 2 classes: health and library science, and then worked at my internship at the Career Center).  So I decided to kick off the blog with a photo blast from the past, in hopes that it would provide the future of this blog with more context.  You have to know where you're coming from to know where you're going, right?  


So anyway, here is a little about me...

First of all, I like to climb things :

I have a slight obsession with penguins :

Dancing = yes please :

I have high aesthetic appreciation. Style, design, fashion...

I'm a sister :)

Black Friday is my favorite holiday :

I'm a "runner", or at least I try. After running a couple of halves, I signed up for a full marathon a couple of weeks ago :

Ke$ha? I think she's pretty cool :

Don't let this throw you off though, I like real music too :

People think I'm ditzy (?!) and always ask me if I was a cheerleader. Well, 

I grew up though and when I got to college, I joined an amazing business fraternity :

And I'm really excited for my future career with Target.  After gaining in-store leadership experience last summer, I'm interning in Minneapolis this summer as a business analyst :

I love the snow :

Planking and Owling?  Nothin' but a G-thang :

The opportunity to travel has blessed my life :

I have amazing friends :

Lastly, and there is no better way to put this, I am fabulous :

My interests span fashion, sarcasm, culture, literature, business, music, fitness, arts, humor, and food.  You will see all of these present in my blog, and I'll do my best to entertain.

Toodles for now!

Surrahh!