What did you buy

On Black Friday, Kmart nostalgia, Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, American consumerism

Nov 25, 2023

“I’m nostalgic for Black Friday,” my father told me the other day.

Really? I thought. This was my dad who saves everything, rarely buys anything he doesn’t need, and is one of the cheapest people I know.

He also used to own a mall restaurant and would get up early every year to help feed the crazy shoppers who were up that early.

I asked him what non-related Black Friday event made him nostalgic.

“Going to get a TV at CompUSA,” he said.

CompUSA closed all of its stores in 2012.

The only Black Friday I fondly remember was standing in line at a now-defunct department store waiting with my grandfather to buy a small TV to take back to college. It was called Venture and I think it was mostly a midwest thing (I didn’t live in the midwest, but my grandparents did).

Afterwards, we had a doughnut. I had an eclair.

Kmart Story.

Speaking of defunct discount stores, one of my favorite, fictional McSweeneys-esque essays I ever wrote was about an inspirational Black Friday speech at Kmart.

It’s in a small digital chapbook called “What Kmart Is Like Now” (PDF) that I made years ago, and here you go, please just take it. Click the link above.

There are some other stories, most of them Kmart-related.

Kmarts I remember:

One turned to a Habit for Humanity store
Another one turned into a bowling alley / gym
Yet another one remains empty

There are no more Kmarts in Manhattan, but I did go to one here before, and it was two stories and I was very impressed by that.

I went to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

This wasn’t something that had been on my “bucket” list, but we were here, my sister is visiting and she said she wanted to do it, and so we did.

We tried to stake out a few spots early with a few friends/acquaintances but then it all became quickly trampled.

Beyond a few of the celebrities on random floats, I was struck by the blatant consumerism.

Which, you know, it’s in the name: MACY’S.

But then also a very peculiar, nostalgic type of American consumerism.

Snoopy balloon (simpler times!)
Smokey The Bear (we’re tough and mean to protect nature?)
Wonder Bread (eat fake-ish bread)
Pillsbury (more fake-ish carbs)
Green Giant (yay canned vegetables!)’
Go Bowling (yes, there were blow-up bowling pins and a bowling ball with a sign that said “Go Bowling”)

Boomer nostalgia, dare we say. Much like my father’s.

Here are some random photos from the parade, poorly taken:

More Things:

Killer piece from
Lev Raphael
about the responses in lit mag rejections. On Substack.
The case for inviting everyone to everything. At Vox.
Why take notes? 9 reasons. By me at Medium.
How to discover new music. At Psyche.
David Gutowski
from Largehearted Boy has started the list of year-end lists. Here’s the one for 2023 books. At Largehearted Boy.

Last Thing:

“When it comes to life the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude." — G.K. Chesterton

Keep going-

Josh Spilker

PS: Here’s a quick note-taking cheat sheet (free) and my Notion Writer Starter Pack (paid) if you’re interested.

Josh Spilker