Brad

JCPenney files for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection https://ir.jcpenney.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/613/jcpenney-to-reduce-debt-and-strengthen-financial-position

Down to 42 after 4 people dropped out last month. Hopefully I can find somewhere that will do that low of a minimum for pins, otherwise I may have to call an audible and get a different prize for this year.

Great news... not https://www.theverge.com/2020/4/14/21221326/amazon-affiliate-marketing-links-commerce-commission-cuts Might have to put up a donation box on the site if these commission cuts continue...

https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-prime-day-2020-delayed-until-at-least-august-2020-4

240 days to go... Thinking that Black Friday could look very different this year. Unless by November the virus is not spreading that much anymore (and we don't get a second wave after restrictions are lifted this summer), I can't see retailers encouraging people to gather for massive Black Friday sales. Rumors are Home Depot won't be advertising their Spring Black Friday this year (although the deals might still be there, just unadvertised). Target seems to have temporarily paused their printed weekly ads and just have a smaller online version on their site. There could be many stores that don't do printed ads this year and just have online sales similar to their Cyber Monday sales where we won't know what's going to be on sale ahead of time. It's all up in the air. Black Friday may end up being a smaller online-only event. If I were the head of a retailer, I'd be planning on Q4 being online-focused and getting extra warehouse space, planning on hiring in that area and preparing for a much higher percentage of Q4 sales to come from online compared to previous years. Even if things improve and they can have traditional BF sales, there will still be a big chunk of people that will want to avoid crowds this year and do more shopping online. Many of us primarily do BF shopping online because it's easier but now it may be the only realistic option this year. Hopefully I'm wrong and things are back to normal by then but at least when it comes to this site I'm preparing for both scenarios. What does everyone think? How normal will BF be this year?

46 members - we had one drop out last month

Might as well keep it going. What else do they have to show?

Down to 47 members after 3 dropped out last month

Update 8/12: Going to merge a bunch of these bankruptcy and store closing threads into this main thread so the BF forum isn't too depressing lol. - Macy's to close 125 stores, cut 2,000 corporate jobs https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/04/macys-to-close-125-stores-sees-480-million-in-restructuring-costs-to-2000-corporate-jobs.html

Down to an even 50 members after 5 dropped out in January.

6 members in danger of dropping out if they don't post in the next couple of days...

Is it just me, or will the ads suck this year?

Only 329 days to go As you can see the 2019 BF threads have been archived and as we've done in recent years there is this year-round BF forum to discuss any store closings and other news that could affect BF 2020. Will be interesting to see how the election affects when ads are leaked this year. In 2016 it seemed to delay the release of the major ads compared to previous years. Because 2020 is a leap year, Black Friday moves 2 days earlier to November 27th.

new year, new thread

Down to 55 members...

Happy New Year to everyone! Also 13 of you still haven't posted for December...

Only 11 months until next year’s sales start

Merry Christmas to everyone Yes, there will still be new days posted on the main site on Christmas Day. 365 days a year. It never stops

Still 14 members who haven't posted for December. Don't let the holidays cause you to forget to post!

https://www.target.com/c/target-giftcards/-/N-5xsxt?lnk=ThisweekendsHol_giftcard

Time to announce the winners! We had 2,826 total entries this year which were all the posts in the Black Friday forums that weren't in prize club threads, weren't made by me and weren't older pre-contest announcement posts in the Instant Pot thread that was moved here. After all entries were randomized and 5 random numbers were selected, here are the winners: 1st Prize: $250 Gift Card to the Retailer of Your Choice Winner: wittenlover (for this post) 2nd Prize: Amazon Fire 7" 32GB Tablet with Case, Fire TV 4K Stick and Echo Dot Bundle Winner: Nate Dogg (for this post) 3rd Prize: Amazon Fire 7" 32GB Tablet with Case, Fire TV 4K Stick and Echo Dot Bundle Winner: wendygrace (for this post) 4th Prize: Google Nest Home Hub Smart Display Winner: jesusluvu (for this post) 5th Prize: Amazon Kindle Paperwhite E-Reader Winner: bbberta (for this post) Congrats to the winners and look for a PM from me to claim your prize. Prizes must be claimed by replying to the PM by January 31, 2020 or they will be forfeited. The random selection process was done with the help of some of the mods on Discord, so they can confirm it was legit

https://press.aboutamazon.com/news-releases/news-release-details/amazon-customers-shop-record-levels-again-holiday-season-cyber

If they do it, it'll be next weekend. it's usually announced Monday or Tuesday of this week.

Yes, we'll most likely do that again.

The club is officially closed for the year. After some re-calculating, we start off with 68 members.