Attention (Bargain) Shoppers!

During the last few weeks, the media have been bombarding us with the phenomenon of 'Black Friday.'
On that day of the year, according to the merchandizing trade, retail companies have paid their bills, and can now start making a profit.

In doing so, they seem to celebrate BIG, by offering (sometimes unbelievable) bargains, with price cuts of 50% even 65%!
(Sometimes, not so big. But that is another story.)
Of course, bargains are not a new thing.
My wife once work at the Sears department store in Halifax, as one of the pioneers of mail-order by computers.
Generation alert: computers during that era spanned the size of large rooms, but had much less power than the iPhone in my hand.
If some department store items did not sell at regular prices, they were given a series of markdowns, and finally were sent to the basement, which she still calls, the 'Rat Race.'
Sale day behaviors by shoppers were legendary: lots of noise, grabbing, and pushing and shoving matches.
Later, she heard about and visited 'Filene's Bargain Basement' in downtown Boston, where, in the women's clothing section, shoppers would stage door-crasher event!
What was most notable, was that many of the women had already stripped down to their underwear, in order to try on the dress, skirt or sweater which they had just grabbed (whoops, selected) from the shelves.
When we visited Boston some years ago, we sent our teenager friend downstairs to witness this event.
She could not believe what she had seen!
Alas, 'Filene's' has been bought out, and the fervor of sales events have been toned down.
Which brings us to a Nova Scotia business success, 'Frenchy's.'
It started out in 1972 as a single used clothing store in Digby, offering clothing and other dry goods in large hampers called, 'bales,' the size that you practically have to dive into, or use an amazingly long reach.
The firm, with stores throughout Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, is now called, 'Guy's Frenchys,' and features 'Brand names for less. .. much less!'
(What we're talking about here is, 'Pennies on the dollar.') Store stock changes quickly, as thousands of pounds (yes, it's measured by pounds) of clothing are sold, and new hampers arrive every day.
The 'Chronicle Herald' has featured a story, The Frenchy’s phenomenon, on this company's sucess story, and even books have been written about the shopping experience.
One of our friends from Maine visits us a couple of times a year. She is always eager to going on a Guy's Frenchys store crawl to seek great bargains!