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| Frys:The front of the building |
I OPENED my mouth, closed it slowly and sank my teeth into a slice of cheesecake. Before I could savour its yummy texture, the alarm clock rang.
The persistent ringing woke me up, just when I was having my dream dessert! I looked at the time – it was 4 am!
In front of me was my younger son, all dressed up. “Mum, time to get up!” he said cheerfully. “Please get ready ASAP. I’ll warm up the car first!” he exclaimed on his way out.
Waking up at 4 am is not my idea of a winter holiday. But a promise is a promise. The night before, when my son had asked me whether I would accompany him on a shopping spree, I had replied in the affirmative, without realising what it entailed.
“Can you wake up at 4 am?” he had asked. “Sure,” I had answered. “Have I not woken up in the wee hours of the morning to give you your morning feed when you were a baby?”
But that was more than 20 years ago!
Regretting my rash agreement, I dragged myself up from the warm comforter. After rushing through my morning routine, I grabbed my overcoat, and got into the car, as fast as my old limbs allowed. As my son stepped on the accelerator, I glanced through the misty windscreen and noticed that we were not the only ones on the highway at that absurd hour.
What was the big rush for, you might wonder? It was the day after Thanksgiving. I was in San Jose, the United States. My son was taking me to Fry’s Electronics for its greatest event of the year: the “Thanksgiving One-Day Sale” which would start at 5am!
We arrived at Fry’s at 4.30am. I was shocked to see a long line of about 400 people. The queue stretched from the entrance, along the sidewall and round the corner to the back of the building. My son hurriedly parked his car and we took our places at the end of the queue. Within minutes, 100 more people lined up behind us.
Most of the people in line were young adults. Others were children or old folks, who, like me, were roped in to help with the shopping. A few people were still in their pyjamas. Some looked unkempt, but the majority was bleary-eyed and groggy. You could tell that many had turned up without eating breakfast!
Around me, mobile phones rang. Pieces of conversation trickled through the air: “Where are you?” “The line here is super long.” “What time did you get up?” “I think by the time I get in, the mp3 players would have been sold out!”
At 5am, the department store door opened and we all trooped in. Only one of the doors was opened to avoid a stampede. Security personnel and store clerks were at hand to ensure order and to offer guidance.
The place was full of frenzied activity as customers rushed to specific counters to get the “sales” items. I followed my son, helping him as he grabbed selected items from different sections. This was because there were limited stocks for the merchandise on sale.
He then asked me to line up at the cash register to pay for his purchases while he went to other sections for other items. Now you know why many customers brought along companions!
The line became increasingly longer, snaking through the whole store. As we inched forward, some customers unloaded items onto nearby shelves – either the goods were getting heavier or they did not want them any more. Interestingly, customers in the queue added some of the “discarded items” to their personal ones!
My son’s purchases were: a wireless router, a thumb drive, a flat panel screen and some compact flash cards. He was unable to get a DVD writer in that store but his friend in the other outlets got one for him. He, in return, got a digital camera for his friend. Such is the resourcefulness of the mobile phone!
Other shoppers were seen contentedly lugging laptops, wireless headsets, digital cameras, DVD players and the latest iPod Mini.
Fry’s is an electronics shopping paradise. Founded by three Fry brothers – John, Randy and Dave – and Kathy Kolder, in 1985. It provides a one-stop-shopping environment for the hi-tech professional.
Incidentally, Thanksgiving Day is celebrated in the United States on the last Thursday of November every year. On the day after Thanksgiving, many shops offer fantastic discounts in a variety of merchandise, ranging from furniture, jewellery, baby paraphernalia, shoes, clothes, to cars and books.
That Friday is called “Black Friday” because it is the busiest shopping day of the year in terms of customer traffic. Many people sacrifice sleep for a bargain because “the early bird catches the worm”. In some shopping centres, customers camp out the night before, bringing along their personal chairs. I heard that some store owners even offer muffins, bagels or donuts to early shoppers: a novel way to entice shoppers!
Accompanying my son to Fry’s reminded me of shopping trips a long time ago. During festive sales, I would ask my son (a teenager then), to queue up at cash registers with my purchases while I hunted for more bargain items.
That role-reversal shopping spree was fun and memorable.
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This article was published in the Malaysian Star newspaper on 5th June 2006.
Update:
Recently, in August 2017, I visited Fry's. It was not crowded as it was an ordinary day. Furthermore, currently most people do not go there to buy stuff as they prefer to buy them online.
Below are some photos of the interior of the building taken in August 2017.
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