I set off for Target a little after 6:30 a.m. on my bike. (I still don’t have a car.)
Target opened at 7 …
I set off for Target a little after 6:30 a.m. on my bike. (I still don’t have a car.) Target opened at 7 a.m., only one hour earlier than normal. They also had closed the main pedestrian entrance, and signs informed us we had to enter through the parking garage. Inside the mall parking lot, the situation was chill enough that one security guard just seemed to be scrolling on his phone. I got to the second floor entrance a couple minutes after 7 a.m. Groups of people were chatting as they rolled in, but there was little of the chaotic energy that I remembered as a kid trying to get the special edition Christmas ornaments at JCPenney. The first thing I noticed was a ‘Mele Kalikimaka’ greeting when I walked in. I’ll admit I’m a huge sucker for locally-targeted advertising from national chains. Immediately, I got distracted by something I previously had no intention of buying — just as Target planned. I headed to the kitchen aisle. No Black Friday deals. I chatted with some store employees in a quiet part of the store. They speculated that shopper volume was low because Ala Moana mall itself wasn’t opening until 8 a.m. But they also suggested I’d find more people in the toys and electronics section. They were right… sort of. (One shopper seemed to be capturing his experience on his GoPro.) I was shocked to see this Play-Doh shelf cleared out just 11 minutes after the store opened.
