The best way to shop is when there are amazing deals available. At this day and age, Americans do not want to pay full price if there is a slight chance of a discount available. According to the National Retail Fund, Americans were smart shoppers this year, which even helped the sluggish economy. Over $52 billion was spent this year in just one day.

Unintentionally, I happened to be at Tyson’s Corner Mall for Midnight Madness. At first things seemed to be calm before the stores opened, except for the Starbucks Coffee shop by Macy’s, where the line extended all the way to the Disney Store. The closer it got to midnight, the more anxious people were becoming, and the closer they moved to the stores they wanted to get in to for whatever deals they were looking for.

Right before midnight the Macy’s doors opened, slowly letting people in so nobody was trampled. It quickly became a madhouse, I overheard managers talking about how they needed more employees, the coverage they had was not enough. I saw them looking through their employee phone book, rapidly dialing numbers to get them to the store as quickly as possible.

Most clothing stores at Tyson’s Corner Mall ended up doing really well, surpassing their goal and last year’s numbers. Arielle Johnson, one of the employee’s from Victoria’s Secret’s Pink store worked during the “midnight madness” stating that is exactly what it was. “By one we already had $20 thousand in.” My response was, “Wow by 1pm? That is a lot of money.” Her shocking response was “No, by 1am.” I guess women in the Northern Virginia area desperately needed T-shirts, yoga pants, cotton bras, and thongs. 

The Forever 21 store had to have constant security all day, which only allowed a specific amount of people in at a time. When one person came out, another could go in. One of the managers, who wished to remain anonymous, told me that usually on a Saturday, Forever 21 makes around $30 thousand. I wonder how much they made that Friday with two lines for each door that did not die down until the store closed.

Working retail that day was actually quite fun. People were running around finding the clothes they wanted and quickly bought things and went on their way. They were not needy, knew exactly what they wanted, and did not want to be bothered or helped, unless if what they were looking for was unreachable. What I noticed that people purchased a lot of were dresses. Of course women are going to buy dresses, New Year’s is coming up and they want to look fabulous! Many of them bought sparkly dresses for the festivities. Another item that was a hot seller were sweaters and this makes perfect sense due to the weather and how winter will start soon. Although everything was moving at five times the normal speed, it seemed like, people were making smart shopping decisions. Although the fitting room lines were almost the entire length of the store, people were trying before buying, because nobody wants to buy something that will never be worn, no matter how great the deal was.