As the countdown to a  relaxing Thanksgiving Day full of food and football draws near,  many people are thinking past turkey Thursday and planning their paths for Black Friday’s shopping extravaganza.  Over the last couple years, the Black Friday hoopla has had its bumps in the road with the economy and safety of shoppers.  I’m hoping this year be a jollier version and not a defensive dash for deals?

With all the hype that comes along with Black Friday, many stores this year are focusing on their security and safety of their customers.  Last year’s unfortunate death of a Walmart employee in addition to 11 customers injured during the initial rush as the morning doors opened, has forced stores to address their crowd management.  Walmart has improved their security as storefronts will have lines with barriers and safety zones to prevent a stampede of eager customers from occurring again.

Although I have not personally participated in the early morning scenes like the picture above, there seems to be a cat and mouse game between die hard consumers and retailers.  Consumers are researching possible sales opportunities and comparisons, weeks in advance compared to the past.  At the same time the retailers are beginning the Black Friday themed sales earlier than this Friday.  Stores such as Kmart and Kohl’s have already begun their ‘holiday sales’ at the beginning on this month.  We will see if these companies pre-turkey day sales give them a leg up on the rest of the Black Friday competitors.

To better prepare for the craziness ahead check out these helpful tips from Eleventh Hour:

• Instead of thumbing through all the paper advertisements, do your research on the web to find all the sales.
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• Be calm amongst all the other madness around you.  It’s not worth getting hurt or trampled to find that DVD player that is on sale.|
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• Work as a group but don’t force those to shop with you that don’t want to be there.  Converse with people in line next to you, maybe they know of a item or sale you were not aware of.  Anyone not as determined as you may just slow you down.
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• Don’t dwell on parking.  Instead of looking for a prime parking, park away from all the commotion.  It will make for an easier getaway plus you can walk off all the turkey you inhaled the day before.
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• Expect rudeness but don’t take things personally.  Black Friday is a day that manners are left at home.  Be as polite as you can and assume the anxious people around don’t carry themselves that way the other 364 days of the year.
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• Did I mention layaway is making a return?  Man that’s a blast from the past.

Matt Suttner will not be participating in Black Friday 2009 but check out black-friday.net for sale opportunities.