Black Friday

     "Traditionally the biggest shopping day of the year"...how many times have I heard, written or used that phrase on-air over the years! Usually it is a make or break time for businesses. Those who do well may have enough profit to survive the lean months ahead. Those that don't...
     I don't have the statistics to back it up, but I suspect there are more wounded, weak retailers and other businesses around right now because of the Great Recession. A bad start to the all-important Christmas Season could just finish them off.
     The Huntsville Times ran an announcement on http://www.al.com/ this afternoon about their Thanksgiving Day edition:

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By Jon Busdeker
November 25, 2009, 11:54AM

     This year's largest, heaviest edition of The Huntsville Times will be available tonight at 9 p.m.
     Because of Black Friday and the holiday season, the Thanksgiving edition of The Times is packed with coupons, advertisements and other holiday deals. The paper is said to weigh three-and-a-half pounds.
     If you want an early copy of the paper, be at The Times building, located at 2317 Memorial Parkway, at 9 p.m. We'll have curb-side service with easy-in, easy-out access.
     The Thanksgiving edition of the paper is $1.50.
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     Certainly newspapers and other media are among the wounded businesses anxious for a good Black Friday...and I would guess a 3.5 pound paper is a positive sign? I don't know what last year's Times weighed, so it is hard to make a comparison. I did find it interesting that he used the phrase "is said to weigh", like if you don't know, who does?
     I also wonder how heavy tomorrow's Birmingham News and The Press-Register will be.
     Perhaps some of the reporters don't like running "stories" that are really promotional items, but I fear that train is long gone from the station.

     And the biggest bankruptcy risk in the land is also teetering on the edge this Black Friday...Jefferson County. Almost 50,000 residents of that county work in retail, and pay taxes based on those jobs. If the businesses don't do well...
     Good luck to the counties, the newspapers, the rest of the media, and the business community at large. And Happy Thanksgiving to all of you stoping by.
     If ever there was a make-or-break Black Friday, this is probably it.