Christmas shopping has really changed since we were kids

Ah, Black Friday rears its ugly head once again. The real question this year will be if shoppers are digging even deeper to find better bargains, or if we’ll just pass on Black Friday altogether.

It’s no secret that economy is still in the toilet, and that will surely play a part in retailers’ bottom lines this year.

There are retailers that are but a haunted shell of what they once were. Circuit City is gone, along with Linens N Things. In its heyday, Circuit City was the forerunner of modern electronic stores. (Back in the day, it was the first retailer to sell color TVs in Richmond!)

It’s heartbreaking to see the empty buildings of former tenants, and they’re present no matter where you travel. Even in Culpeper, the ghost of Farmer Jack is ever present, and a drive down Main Street can be rather saddening with all the empty storefronts.

Many retailers have scaled back tremendously, closing a number of under-performing locations; however, some cannot blame the economy — they can blame technology.

To my fellow children of the ’80s, remember how exciting it was to go to the record store? I thought I’d died and gone to heaven when Tower Records opened a huge store in Tysons.

As vinyl records paved the way for CDs, Tower was always busy. Today, as CDs are nearly obsolete and online purchases are the norm, all Tower Records stores in the United States are closed. There are only a handful left in seven other countries, but you can always purchase music on Tower.com!

Ritz Camera has also taken a major blow to the gut, thanks to the advent of digital cameras and online sharing. We consumers no longer have to take our film anywhere to be developed — we download them on our computers and print them ourselves — or some, like me, never quite get to printing them.

Blockbuster stores are closing all over the country, namely because of rental kiosks such as Red Box and mail-order rental programs such as Netflix. And, for anyone lucky enough to have high-speed Internet, they are available to download online. Me, I’m not lucky enough — the local cable company comes down our street but wants to charge us $5,000 to run the cable down our driveway.

KB Toys, or as it was known in Culpeper, KB Toyworks, no longer exists. Founded in 1922, KB Toys liquidated the last of its stores earlier this year. Any “scraps” (Web site, trademarks, etc.) were absorbed by Toys R Us. (Yes, I’m still a “Toys R Us Kid”.)

Toys R Us has not been immune to hard times either, as it’s closed some of its stores around the nation. It has, however, come up with a genius idea of opening “temporary stores” for the holiday season. Desperate landlords are allowing short-term leases — some money is better than no money!

In the interest of being frugal this year, I will be rather creative with some gifts. But there’s a part of me that cannot resist the challenge and thrill of Black Friday.

Yes, I will be one of the many suckers, er, shoppers, out there next Friday. And I won’t be alone. And I will more than likely imbibe in a few adult beverages that evening.

Salud, Culpeper!

Smith’s column runs every Friday on the editorial page.