Customers being sold out by stores’ Black Friday ‘bargains’

Sale! A four letter word that once had real meaning, but has been stripped of truth by commercial cynicism. Pre and post-christmas it appears on shop windows and price tickets, but the supposed “bargains” are actually often nothing more than a con on customers.

The horrible “Black Friday” innovation, transplanted here from across the Atlantic, is simply a longer way of saying “sale”.

It’s a very long Friday that lasts for a month.

The veracity of “BF” has been lately exploded and exposed.

A survey revealed that 90% of the “special offers” were either tagged at the usual price or cost more.

In other words, the bulk of stuff did the buyer no favours. Hardly has Black Friday departed (and many retailers thankfully ignored it this year) than we are into Boxing Day and New Year sales.

I know that most stores are struggling these days, but there’s a limit to shoppers’ trust and disposable income. We all realise that often large quantities of cheap rubbish are bought up and brought in to lure the unsuspecting. Items that have been dustgathering in warehouses for yanks.

Without wishing to romanticise the past, I do recall when genuine sales in department stores created incredible interest and offered a range of highly desirable goods at knockdown prices. In towns and cities back in the 1950s and early 1960s, the big chains vied with each other to display terrific “snips” in their New Year promotions. Indeed, such was the demand for certain prized plums that queues of hardy souls would camp out for several days to ensure they obtained that much-sought TV, bed or freezer.

That took unusual resolution in mid-winter, but they even endured the start of the Big Freeze of 1962/63 to land their heart’s desire.

Sales no longer have that resonance, especially as they seem to crop up all year round. We can look ahead to spring, summer, end of season and autumn sales.

Those that do catch the eye and provoke sadness are the closing down sales, especially when an old-established and cherished business goes under through decline in trade, end of lease or spiraling overheads. We mourn them, perhaps with a tinge of guilt if we’ve failed to support them. n Why is disruptive scaffolding permitted to stay up for months on end with no sign of work being carried out? A certain premises has been shrouded for much of this year, making a narrow pavement even more confined. Time was when councils issued scaffolding licences for a set period. Any over-run was charged.

A classic case of sensible regulation being abandoned to the inconvenience of pedestrians. n What do you think? Email kentishgazette@thekmgroup. co.uk.