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Business & Tech

The Sales, The Crowds, The Insanity: My Cedar Falls Black Friday Shopping Experience

I discovered the good, the bad and the ugly of one of the craziest days of the year.

After weeks of having the, “Gotta get down on Black Friday,” commercial playing over and over in my head (thanks, Rebecca Black), I was finally able to jump headfirst into the madness of one of the craziest days of the year.

I decided to try and hit up the most places I could within a seven hour time period. During that time, I encountered the good, the bad and certainly the ugly of Black Friday, but with a stomach full of turkey and a little bit of caffeine, I was ready to take on the night full throttle.

I started my night in line at at 11:30 p.m. I wanted to pick one item I could fight the mobs for – a pair of boots for the unbeatable price of $20.

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The shopper paranoia started to set in as I eyed the shoes of the women around me in line, determining if their shoe size and style was similar to mine. I wanted those boots, and no one was going to get in the way… except for the 50 people in front of me and the security guards at the door.

Younkers ended up opening ten minutes early, and everyone rushed inside to get their hands on their prize. As I showed off my best speed walking skills straight into the shoe section, I looked around only to find there were only three other people in my section. I easily picked up the box of boots I wanted and was done within three minutes of entering the store – without even breaking a sweat.

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I looked up to see cardboard boxes and tissue paper flying into the air as a hoard of shoppers attacked the UGG look-alikes. It was pretty clear what the popular item of the morning was.

was next on my list, but after seeing the checkout line wrapped around the length of the store, I decided to move on. Before I left, I took full advantage of the perfume testing area, making sure I wasn’t the reason there was a big gap in line at the next location.

was next, and I couldn’t resist chatting with the police officer blocking the entrance. Their door busters started at 10 p.m. on Thanksgiving, and many shoppers took full advantage of that, lining up to score big-screen TVs.

During our chat, I found out a woman had been slapped by another woman. Other than that, I was disappointed to hear there weren’t going to be any Black Friday YouTube videos going viral from the area.

Crossroads Mall in Waterloo was already packed as most of the stores inside opened at midnight as well. The crowd was 50/50 – some people were completely made-up for the day while others were wandering around in their pajamas. I would say I was at a happy medium.

Amidst the Black Friday chaos, it became evident a lot of shoppers fell victims of, “empty stroller syndrome,” otherwise known as not being phased as your child leaves their stroller to explore the store while you shop. Yes, you read that right.

In Rue21, a couple actually left their baby in a stroller in the front of the store. An employee discovered the infant when she heard it crying and held the baby behind the counter to wait for mall security to arrive.

As many of us stood there in disbelief, the father of the child came and took the baby from the employee without saying a word and continued shopping with his wife. I had seen this couple trying on coats about 20 minutes prior to the incident. I hope they found a really good one.

In the Buckle, I saw another empty stroller at the front of the store. I started looking around and eventually saw the toddler running around that belonged to it… straight into the jewelry display case. The child continued to lie on the ground chewing on a wooden hanger. The father of the child eventually came to see how his son was doing and was later joined by the couple from Rue21 – I guess they were friends.

One question – what are these kids doing up in the wee hours of the morning anyway? I'm pretty sure the last thing they want to do at 3 a.m. is hold Mommy's shopping bags.

Another hotspot was Victoria’s Secret. About 50 women (and a few boyfriends) blocked the storefront for the 4 a.m. opening. Most of those in line were already sporting the brand – even a mother-daughter duo with matching PINK sweat suits. Now that’s dedication.

I was surprised to find a lot of the mall stores didn’t seem to have giant Black Friday savings. As an avid window shopper, I noticed many of the prices were the same as usual. If I’m going to stay up all night with all of the other sleep-deprived shopping zombies, I want to save some green. And by green, I mean more than two dollars off the original price.

was completely packed, sporting the same policy of most bars – one in, one out. Except with the large crowds, it was more like 30 in, 30 out. Those who were looking to save on spendy electronics or buy their child a new toy waited in line in the cold for hours to even get their foot inside the door after the store opened.

Another place where masses of saving-hungry shoppers waited for hours was Gordmans. People were already sitting outside the store at 1:30 a.m. for the 5 a.m. opening. One young man had his heart set on a pair of night vision goggles, which he said would make parties more fun.

After devouring a sausage McBiscuit at McDonald’s to stay sane, I finished off my Black Friday marathon with a romantic view of the sunrise over the parked cars… then a final stop at Dick’s Sporting Goods and TJ Maxx at 7 a.m., where I met an older woman who was going to buy a furry tree skirt to use as a cape. She just might be starting the latest fad. I predict it will be in Vogue by the next issue.

By the time I left the store, I was ready to crash… yet I am sitting here writing this story. After getting mauled by shopping carts full of decorative pillows and talking dolls and becoming partly deaf from the constant beeping of alarms going off at every store, I would still have to say it was a very successful Black Friday.

I scored the boots, found a scarf and was able to capture Americans at their finest. This is truly the one day of the year where it’s completely acceptable (and usually encouraged) to act like a wild animal and hunt down all of the prey on your holiday wish list. And it’s more than past time for this wild animal to go into hibernation.

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