The west toledo best buy parking and the economy
I was going out to a bar with the three remaining singles left in the group I grew up with last night at about 12:30 am. The two places we normally went on thanksgiving were closed on tax evasion or demolished to make way for a costco that got 10thousand applications the day it opened.
So we headed over to 'chucks'-this shit hole in what is a normally empty best buy/valu city furniture parking lot.
In 20 degree weather we found a line that stretched around the best buy all the way down around the krogers... I counted 100 people in line till I stopped counting for a store that wasn't set to open till 5am.
I asked this guy in a buckeyes jacket who was standing in front of a michigan tent if they were giving it away... He said no... Just good deals...like a 250 laptop to the first 25 customers...
But it didn't end there...by 2am there was a line at toys are us... A similar lou-al accross the street a t circuit city. 3a at kohl they had arranged a system where they lined up in their cars for the doors to open. There was even a line at wal mart.
Toledo doesn't have lines..and they've got bigger parking lots than people who have ever lived here-but there was a literal craze of activity bumping in the night here the night of thanksgiving with some missing dinner just to get first in line...
What does this say about the economy? My dad told me he's company has to close a plant here with 50 salary workers that been open 75 years becuase they're losing money-cant compete with the state capitalism of china... The gal at the waffle house that night said the girl that didn't show up for work thanksgiving night won't have work tomorrow but they won't have a hard time filling her spot before christmas.
So either the economy is good and these people are lining up in the friggen cold, sleeping on concrete to get it all in, or they're desperate to make their money last as far as it can this christmas.
If you go out to bars in toledo your always in some stores empty parking lot and this year they weren't empty....
So we headed over to 'chucks'-this shit hole in what is a normally empty best buy/valu city furniture parking lot.
In 20 degree weather we found a line that stretched around the best buy all the way down around the krogers... I counted 100 people in line till I stopped counting for a store that wasn't set to open till 5am.
I asked this guy in a buckeyes jacket who was standing in front of a michigan tent if they were giving it away... He said no... Just good deals...like a 250 laptop to the first 25 customers...
But it didn't end there...by 2am there was a line at toys are us... A similar lou-al accross the street a t circuit city. 3a at kohl they had arranged a system where they lined up in their cars for the doors to open. There was even a line at wal mart.
Toledo doesn't have lines..and they've got bigger parking lots than people who have ever lived here-but there was a literal craze of activity bumping in the night here the night of thanksgiving with some missing dinner just to get first in line...
What does this say about the economy? My dad told me he's company has to close a plant here with 50 salary workers that been open 75 years becuase they're losing money-cant compete with the state capitalism of china... The gal at the waffle house that night said the girl that didn't show up for work thanksgiving night won't have work tomorrow but they won't have a hard time filling her spot before christmas.
So either the economy is good and these people are lining up in the friggen cold, sleeping on concrete to get it all in, or they're desperate to make their money last as far as it can this christmas.
If you go out to bars in toledo your always in some stores empty parking lot and this year they weren't empty....
-
- groups:
- Collective Journalism, Thanksgiving
