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The average shopper spent $423.55 on Black Friday. That’s a lot of money!
And today online retailers are expected to haul in $1.5 billion.
Apparently the Black Friday lines were really bad at Walmart in Afghanistan.
Sure, your kid may know how to work your iPad better than you do, but that’s no reason to bypass the toy aisle this holiday season. Here’s our list of this year’s hottest toys and games. To name a few:
Furby
Remember Furby, the candy-colored hamster alien at the top of every kid’s holiday wish list back in 1998? Well, he’s back, and he’s better than ever. Furby 2012 even comes with an iOS app that will translate his Furbish mumblings into English. (Parent-sized earplugs sold separately.)
Pillow Pets
If there are two things kids love, it’s stuffed animals and a nice, restful nap. Pillow Pets are a huge crowd pleaser among today’s toy-savvy tots. Whether it’s the rainbow unicorn or fluffy-fanged T-Rex, their plush animal forms are the perfect nap-time companion.
LeapFrog LeapPad 2 Explorer
The original LeapFrog LeapPad earned the title of No. 1 learning tablet for a reason — it’s a seriously smart, kid-friendly piece of tech. LeapPad 2 doubles the device’s memory to 4GB and features a front-and-back camera/video recorder. Perfect training for kids growing up in the age of the iPad.
WWE Brawlin’ Buddies Sheamus Plush Figure
Who said plush can’t also be tough? With the WWE Brawlin’ Buddies collection of plush fighters, kids can get their fill of rough-and-tumble action without risking any broken bones or bruises. These soft superstars are even programmed to say their signature catch phrase when they throw down.
Gray Thursday is the new Black Friday.
Millions of Americans gobbled up their turkey and snarfed down their stuffing in record time so they could get a head start on their holiday gift-buying.
Even for die-hard shoppers, trekking to the mall on Thanksgiving was a first-time experience. Store openings for Black Friday, the day that businesses often turn a profit for the year, have crept earlier and earlier. But never have retailers had the nerve to compete with watching football on TV and putting up Christmas lights — until yesterday.
The biggies that led the charge — Walmart, Toys R Us and Sears — threw open their doors at 8 p.m. to huge crowds. Target followed suit a hour later. A few Kmart outlets, though, had a leg up on everybody, turning on the lights at 6 a.m. yesterday to sell LCD televisions for $97 each and $49 Android tablets.
Frenzied bargain shoppers spread Black Friday mayhem across the U.S yesterday, and you won’t believe how many people were shot, tasered, or pepper-sprayed. A few of the worst:
• A woman shopping at a Walmart in Porter Ranch, Calif., pepper-sprayed at least 10 fellow customers to get an edge over a crowd swarming around Xbox video game systems. Police are still looking for the woman.
• A viral video showed a grandfather lying bloody and unconscious on the floor of a Walmart in Buckeye, Ariz., where police reportedly tackled the man because they thought he was attempting to steal a video game. But witnesses said Jerald Newman, 54, only tucked the game into his waistband to help his grandson, who was being trampled by frenzied shoppers.
• At a Hollister store in New York City’s swanky SoHo district, a group of frustrated would-be shoppers turned into late-night burglars instead, breaking into the store and stealing armfuls of clothes after it failed to open at midnight.
• A video uploaded to Twitter — and featured on the cover of The Daily today — showed a riot-like scramble for $2 waffle makers at a Walmart near Little Rock, Ark.
More Black Friday madness, from shootings to arrests, in our Facebook app.
