You may well have heard about the rather unthankful act of the Buffalo-Area Mall over the most cherished holiday season in the US. This mall threatened stores with fines of up to $1,200 in total (or around $200 for every hour of thanksgiving night, from 6pm onwards, of shopping that they miss). This has, unfortunately for the mall, attracted national and worldwide attention, with many being pretty outraged at the mean act during what should be a time of thankfulness, love and forgiveness. So what drives the mall in wanting to get ahead of the Black Friday consumer purchase madness? And this also begs the question as to whether stores should be forced to open for thanksgiving at all.

Mall Fines…. Pretty common practice

You may or may not realise that fining stores for being closed during normal mall opening hours is pretty common practice. It stands to reason that a mall with closed shops may not make for the most attractive shopping destination, particularly as we consumers have more choice than ever. What’s more, many malls base their rent on each shops’ profit, and so if the shops are closed more often they’ll consequently receive less rent. As well as this the Buffalo-Area Mall that has recently been put under the media spot light is not, as you may think, the only mall to have put a Thanksgiving fine in place, with many malls opting for this tactic also.

Retails versus the importance of Thanksgiving

The world of retail is a competitive one. Season after season shops go head to head with cut price sales and fresh marketing tactics. This applies equally to malls, with each competing to feature the best shops around. Indeed the world of retail is somewhat of a cut throat industry, but how does this sit with the holiday season?
Well we all know that retail is an antisocial job; with many required to work late and over the weekends, as well as during the holiday season, such as Christmas and New Year. However the question is that given the importance of thanksgiving whether this holiday season should be any different?

Competing with the big boys

Another reason behind malls getting a head start on the Black Friday rush is that they really need another way of competing with online retailers. In recent years the rate of mall closures has increased and for those who remain they must also keep up with retailers such as Walmart, Target and Kmart, all of whom open on Thanksgiving night.

When all is said and done the retail industry will always meet demand. So in taking a look at the shopping figures for thanksgiving night we can clearly see that opening makes good, solid business sense. With many of us making use of this it then seems that this pattern of forced openings may look set to grow in the future, whether it is morally right or a choice that will be popular with retail workers is another matter altogether!

Don’t you just hate Black Friday? For those of us for who Thanksgiving is one of the best times of the year, with quality time spent with loved ones, the madness of Black Friday is a real downer. OK, you might be able to pick up a few bargains, save a few dollars, but is it all worth it in the end? The mad frantic chaos, the hours wasted standing in line shivering in the cold, the disappointment when you discover those door buster bargains are all sold out, all for what? If you are looking for some good reasons to give Black Friday a miss this year, check these out.

If it looks too good to be true…

That TV for under $100 dollars is a great deal no doubt, it certainly looks so in the advertisements. But what the ads don’t tell you is how many of them are available at that price. The chances are that after you have stood in line for hours they will be sold out. But never mind, there are plenty of other bargains around. As far as the store is concerned they have got you inside, and they know that you will spend your money on things you don’t really need and that you wouldn’t normally buy; you are trapped like a fly in a spider’s web.

There is no such thing as a free lunch…

Are those bargains all what they seem? Are all those dollars off real? There are many ways of cooking the books to make bargains look what they are really not. If you track prices you are likely to discover that many of the bargains have been available at lower prices at some other time, if not in the store then online. Do you really believe in the great giveaway? At the end of the day there’s no such thing as a free lunch.

Money is burning a hole in your pocket…

In other words you will spend too much money on stuff you don’t need or want. It’s inevitable; we are hard wired to do it. Let’s be honest, we find those bargains, or so-called bargains, irresistible. Rather that work out how much we are spending, we dwell on how much we are saving. We spend $100 on items that the store claims should have cost $200 and, rather than thinking we have spent $100, we convince ourselves that we are $100 better off.

Black Friday goes digital…

Not surprisingly big online retailers want their share of the Black Friday action too, and they don’t intend to wait around until after Thanksgiving, Sellers such as Amazon have already kicked off their Black Friday deals with discounts on a huge range of items, including many top brands, of up to 80%. You would be hard pushed to match some of their deals in the stores even on Black Friday. It is so much more relaxing than fighting through the crowds and you might save yourself even more money.

It can get dangerous out there…

Those Black Friday crowds aren’t always friendly, and neither is all the store staff, especially as many are forced to skip Thanksgiving and work extended hours. There have been several incidents over the years when Black Friday crowds have got out of hand. One woman in a desperate fight to buy a games console used a pepper spray injuring twenty shoppers. On another occasion a man who collapsed in the crush was ignored as shoppers stepped over him. There was even an incident where a Walmart employee was trampled to death by the crowd that flooded in through the doors.

Don’t take the risk; stay at home on Black Friday; you know it makes sense.

KARAT OR  CARAT  is a way to express the purity of gold. It is not a measure of weight but percentages. The 24-karat gold is pure gold is too soft for use in jewelry directly, for example. Therefore, gold is always alloyed with other metals to give it hardness or to change in some way the color

If you say that a ring is 18K gold, means you have 18 parts of gold and 6 parts of another metal, which can be silver, copper, palladium, etc … The 18 karat gold contains 75% as gold .

If you say that a ring is 14k gold, means it has 14 parts of gold and 10 parts of another metal. So, is about 58.3 % gold. It is the most used in jewelry because it is less expensive than 18k and less soft when wearing metal alloy giving you more strength.

If you say that a ring is 10 karat gold, it means that you have 10 gold and 14 parts of another metal or metals. In round numbers, is about 41.7% gold. It’s not junk.

It’s no secret that during the recent turbulent financial years the price of gold has hit all-time highs, with many rushing to buy into what was seen as the most stable commodity in the world. This was by no means a one off and indeed, during each and every recession in decades past, gold has been the precious metal of choice. So now that the economy is looking relatively set on a road to recovery the question is where this leaves the market for gold.  Well in this guide, we’ve taken a look at the past, present and the potential future.

You may not believe it, but gold has experienced a turbulent past, with one of the most remarkable events being US president Nixon’s announcement of the cancellation of the convertibility between the US dollar and gold. Although this is one of a number of dips within the history of Gold, it has seen far more rises during times of financial crisis than it has dips through political interference. Take for example the economic crisis which began during early 1980, this saw the gold price soar to a staggering $850 per ounce. This spike in pricing was also reflected during the most recent financial crisis, with the precious metal seeing an all-time high of $1800 in 2012.

The value of gold continued to stabilize during the beginning of November. This market value pattern that has been seen most recently certainly suggests that now is the time to sell for consumers who may still be holding on to unwanted gold, with a still relatively healthy value of $1,145.64 per ounce.

With such a colourful past you may want to know what the future holds for the value of gold in the years and decades to come. Whilst this is somewhat of an impossible question, we can surmise that financial turbulence is somewhat inevitable in what is a global market, particularly as power shifts between the economies of the world. One such economy that well impact upon the financial status of America is that of China.

That said, we then look towards the origins of the financial crisis that we are just emerging from. This cause, the subprime mortgage market and its associated debt, is largely becoming better regulated, with strategies being put in place to avoid such a situation ever occurring again.

In short, there is reason to look towards the future with both optimism and scepticism.

If you’re looking to buy your gold before any potential dip in price then cash in today with Mega Gold in Miami, Florida. We know all there is to know about the gold market and always maximise our clients pay-outs. We specialize in buying: Watches, Rings, Jewellery, Necklaces and Bracelets, and we always provide instant pay-outs. So call in today, no appointment necessary, to chat with our friendly and knowledgeable staff about your gold pay day.