With a 25% off coupon in hand, we drove to the Ellenton Outlet Mall, about 20 minutes north of Sarasota, FL. The Off 5th Saks Fifth Avenue Outlet (as well as the rest of the mall) would open at midnight. As we approached the exit on I-75, around 11:58pm Thursday evening, we noticed a complete standstill of cars in the right two lanes, with the far left lane moving slowly. An accident? Nope… for about 2.5 miles (each way - I measured) there was a traffic jam waiting to get off the highway and into the shops.

No shopping to be done there for us. (Apparently it got worse later on). On the way back we stopped by Best Buy on US 41 and saw a line (around 12:45am):

Obviously, everyone wants those Sony LCD TVs and HP laptops for super cheap.

Circuit City had a similar, if smaller, line

The joys of mass consumerism! May your 10 credit cards not be maxed out and may you not get trampled in a mad stampede!

~Bill G