'big box stores'

[Olympian]

Hello,

A news headline on Yahoo read:

"Best Black Friday deals at big box stores"

When I clicked on it, the headline there read:

"Black Friday 2011: Deals From Walmart, Target, Best Buy and More"

I know that:

1. Black Friday is the Friday following the Thanksgiving Day (which is on the last Thursday in Nov) in the US.
2. Walmart, Target - are large department stores

Could you please tell me the meaning of 'big box stores'?

Thank you

On the occasion of Thanksgiving - A special Thank You to all the teachers and non-teachers who make the efforts to help us improve our English, and to help us understand the intricacies of English. Thank you very much to the administrators and people who maintain this great website.

[Gillnetter]

Hello,

A news headline on Yahoo read:

"Best Black Friday deals at big box stores"

When I clicked on it, the headline there read:

"Black Friday 2011: Deals From Walmart, Target, Best Buy and More"

I know that:

1. Black Friday is the Friday following the Thanksgiving Day (which is on the last Thursday in Nov) in the US.
2. Walmart, Target - are large department stores

Could you please tell me the meaning of 'big box stores'?
A "big box" store is a large department store that, when seen from above (as when you are flying over a city), resembles a large box.
Thank you

On the occasion of Thanksgiving - A special Thank You to all the teachers and non-teachers who make the efforts to help us improve our English, and to help us understand the intricacies of English. Thank you very much to the administrators and people who maintain this great website.
Thank you for the kind thoughts.

Gil

[amigos4]

Historically, retail stores get out of the "red" by posting great sales on the Friday following Thanksgiving.
However, this year, many big box stores are opening on Thanksgiving night, hoping to get a head start on the golden quarter.

[Olympian]

A "big box" store is a large department store that, when seen from above (as when you are flying over a city), resembles a large box.

@Gilnetter, thank you.

My guess about 'big box' was it referred to big boxes in which they sell the large TV's and so on, or a store for selling big boxes (empty ones). But since they also sold other small stuff, this did not make sense. So, I had to ask. I could never have guessed the meaning, and my guess seems so silly.

[Olympian]

Historically, retail stores get out of the "red" by posting great sales on the Friday following Thanksgiving.
However, this year, many big box stores are opening on Thanksgiving night, hoping to get a head start on the golden quarter.

@amigos4, thank you. I did not know that they can get out of the red (make up for losses through the year) in this one golden quarter.

Nice 'color' words - Black Friday, Out of the Red, Golden quarter.

[Barb_D]

I must correct something. Thanksgiving is NOT the last Thursday in November. It is the FOURTH Thursday in November. If the month starts on the Wednesday or Thursday, it will not be the last Thursday.

I was driving home last night from my sister-in-law's house in Washington DC. It was quite late when we got to our house (about 3 hours away). At 11 pm, Best Buy (a big-box store) was open, and people were lined up outside Kohls, a department, and traffic was streaming into Target, a discount deparmtent store. Unbelieavable. People are nuts.

[Olympian]

I must correct something. Thanksgiving is NOT the last Thursday in November. It is the FOURTH Thursday in November. If the month starts on the Wednesday or Thursday, it will not be the last Thursday.

I was driving home last night from my sister-in-law's house in Washington DC. It was quite late when we got to our house (about 3 hours away). At 11 pm, Best Buy (a big-box store) was open, and people were lined up outside Kohls, a department, and traffic was streaming into Target, a discount deparmtent store. Unbelieavable. People are nuts.

@Barb_D, thank you for the correction.

From what I read in the news, the deals are too tempting, and also probably they are doing their bit to help the economy. (or maybe not, if they are buying on credit cards which they can't repay and thus increase the debts and cause even more problems than the existing ones). I read somewhere that the US owes more than a trillion dollars to the Chinese ... still people seem to be enjoying good prices on things manufactured in China (which is almost everything these days).

[JohnParis]

Tempting prices?...no so fast.
Check this out:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/25/bu...me&ref=general

John

[SoothingDave]

I must correct something. Thanksgiving is NOT the last Thursday in November. It is the FOURTH Thursday in November. If the month starts on the Wednesday or Thursday, it will not be the last Thursday.

If I recall correctly, it was changed to the 4th Thursday from the last Thursday in order to give the merchants an extra week of "Christmas shopping season" in those years.

[Olympian]

Tempting prices?...no so fast.
Check this out:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/25/bu...me&ref=general

John

@John, thanks for that article. I did not know that. It is quite interesting to know. But even the prices in the news/ads now look tempting from here because we don't get those kind of prices.

Now, if only she had read the article you mentioned, the woman who pepper sprayed other Black Friday shoppers might not have done it.

As Barb_D wrote, "People are nuts".