A Salute to the Retail Warriors of Black Friday

Black Friday, 2008. I remember it well—the frenzied weeks of preparation, the calm before the storm and the tsunami of customers barreling down the isles. I remember the excitement before the doors opened, earlier than usual that day. And I remember the feeling of complete and total exhaustion when it was over.

I was once a tackle store employee during a Black Friday sale. But unlike you, one year was all I could take of the madness. And, no matter which side of the aisle you’re on, I think we can all agree that the first shopping day after Thanksgiving is indeed madness.

For store owners, it’s (hopefully) a madness of profit, of sales receipts and new insights into your customer base. For employees, Black Friday can feel like the madness of jumping overboard into a swirling sea of consumers. But even in that chaos, there’s room to find joy: old customers come back to see you, new customers want to know your name, and at the end of the day you’re helping everyone you talk with catch more fish.

Industry analysts at Fortune predict that over 137 million Americans will be shopping this weekend. By some predictions, the weekend after Thanksgiving accounts for 15 percent of all sales in the months of November and December. That’s a massive surge and an opportunity for stores to make up ground after a politically-focused year that hit some in the pocket book. (Fortune also estimates that retailers lost some $800 million due to this year’s election.)

Across the country, tackle dealers from Florida to California will be hosting cookouts and seminars, greeting new and familiar faces and doing their best to keep the aisles packed to carve out a slice of the holiday season’s biggest pie. By the end of the day, you’ll be beat—and you’ll likely still have a full weekend ahead of you.

Try to remember, tackle dealers, that even though the turkey was cooked yesterday, there’s a whole lot to still be thankful for while you’re out there in the madness.

Black Friday is a hard day. It’s a weary day. It’s…well, it’s a black day. But it’s nothing you can’t handle. Most of you have been here before. Some of you are at your first rodeo. And all of you deserve a heartfelt salute.

Here’s to you, the people that make America…catch more fish.