Here’s a strange phenomenon that reader Jay came across at his local Walmart: Black Friday creep. No, not the race among retailers to see who can open the earliest. Yesterday (Tuesday) Jay picked up a $4 cofeemaker from a shelf full of them, but wasn’t allowed to purchase it. He was told that the item wasn’t for sale. Not that he couldn’t get it at the posted price: he couldn’t buy it at all.

I saw these on the Walmart #[redacted], [redacted] CA, and picked the coffee brewer for $4. Cashier rang it and it said it’s not for sale. I went to the customer service, and same result. Guy said it must be a black Friday item and can’t sell it to anyone.

So…….they’re telling customers “look at all these cheap items that you can’t buy!”?

Maybe a curtain or banner meant to keep curious shoppers away from the display just hadn’t been put up yet. If not, they’re going to be dealing with a lot of confused customers for the next few days.

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