It’s not worth it, folks!

Now this is ridiculous, and downright shameful: A Walmart worker in New York died this morning after being trampled by shoppers.

From the Associated Press:

NEW YORK –  Police say a Walmart worker has died after being trampled by a throng of unruly shoppers shortly after the Long Island store opened Friday.

Nassau County police say the 34-year-old worker was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead at about 6 a.m., an hour after the store opened. The cause of death was not immediately known.

A police statement says a throng of shoppers “physically broke down the doors, knocking him to the ground.” Police also say a 28-year-old pregnant woman was taken to a hospital for observation.

Walmart Stores Inc., in Bentonville, Ark., would not confirm the reports of a stampede during the day-after-Thanksgiving bargain hunting, but said a “medical emergency” caused them to close the store.

Black Friday shoppers out early

It’s 4:25 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 28, and the buzz has been Black Friday watching since 2:30 this morning. Why? Because we have nothing else better to do. Actually, we do, but duty calls.

Anyway, I made a quick drive around the usual places: Best Buy, Toys R Us, the Mall at Barnes Crossing – and there were people waiting in line, of course.

At Scruggs Farm, Lawn & Garden Home Improvement Warehouse (what a name! can’t they shorten it?), about 1,000 people had gone through the doors within a half-hour or so. Scruggs opened at 3 a.m., giving away $10 gift cards to the first 100 people in line. Then, every hour until 8 tonight, it will give away prizes, ranging from a rifle to a bike, to a ceiling fan and a $100 gift card.

By 3:45, the line at Toys R Us had stretched nearly to the front of OfficeMax. At JC Penney at the mall, the store opened before the scheduled 4 a.m., and the store was packed. Belk had a line, too, but wasn’t scheduled to open until 5.

At Best Buy, the line had wrapped around the front, side and was starting to go around the back. Next door at Ashley Furniture, a line had formed to take advantage of a $90 sofa that was being sold to the first 50 people.

Ah, Black Friday … gotta love it!

Now … where’s that coffee?

An early, EARLY start to Black Friday

The Buzz was on the prowl on Thanksgiving morning to see if there might be some way-early bird shoppers getting ready for Black Friday. I wasn’t disappointed.

At about 10:45 a.m., on the way back home to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner before having to come back to work, I met Sidney Moak and Don Cassell, who had set up at the front door of Best Buy.

Both are from Columbus and decided they had nothing else better to do, since they had already celebrated Thanksgiving with family and friends earlier in the week.

Moak was “late” last year getting in line, and was determined to be one of the first in line to get either the Toshiba laptop for $379.99 or the Dynex 32-inch LCD for $399.99.

“I’ll have 17 hours to think about it,” Moak said.

Cassell is shopping for a GPS and laptop.

I guess the early bird does get the worm. And their favorite electronics.

And here they are:

Elizabeth Clair’s having sale, too

Just got word that Elizabeth Clair’s, at 128 Industrial Road in Tupelo, is having a special after-Thanksgiving sale, too. Seems the Daily Journal accidently left out the ad that should have run in today’s paper.

Anyway, the sale is this: 20 percent off ANY ONE item on Friday and Saturday ONLY. The store will be open on Friday from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

For more information, call Elizabeth Clair’s at 840-0600 or 844-3500.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving from the Biz Buzz team. We’re out stuffing ourselves silly with our families today. Dennis will be back tomorrow for the madness that is Black Friday. Check out today’s paper for tips on where to get the best deals Friday morning.

And, since it is the time to give thanks, we want to thank you, our readers, for making Biz Buzz so much fun. We love reading your comments and discussing them online and offline (you know you have caused a stir when the Biz has a face-to-face powwow about you). Thanks for making this site a success. We look forward to another year of bringing you Northeast Mississippi’s business news.

Walk-through: Hilton expansion 11/24

Sunday’s Business & Money section gave you an update about what’s going on in Tupelo’s hotel scene. We had pictures and updated opening time lines. If you missed it, Sunday’s paper is still in racks around town and you can get it at the Journal offices.

And, to our delight, Shari Long Neely, sales director for the Hilton Garden Inn, gave the Biz a sneak peek this week of the 47-room expansion going up to the west of the current hotel in Fairpark. The expansion is four stories and when completed, guests shouldn’t be able to tell the difference between the original hotel and the expansion. The rooms are slated to open in January.

the outside of the hotel – the expansion is on the left

looking into the expansion from the ground floor of the original hotel

the view of the ground floor of the expansion – Shari, our tour guide, is in the lower left corner.

inside the expansion looking back into the original hotel

one of the rooms

Shari assured us the tub won’t be there when the expansion opens.

Drive-by: Steak Escape 11/25

The signs are up on the new Steak Escape being built on Gloster next to the Sleep Inn. No word on the opening date yet, besides “opening soon.”

side of building

front of building

Read our previous Steak Escape coverage.

Ford rated tops in vehicle safety

Two of the Detroit Big 3 automakers are doing something right. Yesterday, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety rated 16 vehicles made by Ford and subsidiary Volvo among the safest on the road. GM also fared well.

From the AP:

Ford and Volvo had 16 vehicles in the 2009 model year on the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s list of the safest new cars, followed by Honda Motor Co. with 13 vehicles.

Seventy-two cars, trucks and SUVs received the top safety pick designation for 2009, more than double the number of vehicles in the 2008 model year and three times the number in 2007.

“The sheer number of this year’s winners indicates that automakers have made huge strides to improve crash protection,” said Institute president Adrian Lund.

The selected vehicles are the best in protecting people in front, side and rear crash tests based on institute evaluations during the year. The vehicles are required to have electronic stability control, or ESC, to qualify for the award.

IIHS said electronic stability control is now standard equipment on virtually all new SUVs and three-quarters of passenger cars for the 2009 model year. ESC is standard on more than one-third of 2009 pickups.

Ford was led by the Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan midsize cars with optional ESC; the Ford F-150 pickup, Ford Edge and Ford Flex midsize sport utility vehicles; and the Ford Escape and Mercury Mariner small SUVs. The list also included the Mazda Tribute, which has the same underpinnings as the Escape and Mariner.

Bailout bill tab so far: $7 TRILLION

With the federal government’s announcement of another $800 billion in “assistance,” the bailout bill is coming close to $7 trillion. And that’s not a typo.

From the Associated Press. WARNING: This is a long post with lots of information. But it shows you just how deep we are into this mess:

The U.S. government’s commitments to contain the financial crisis now approach $7 trillion.

The program on consumer debt will be supported by $20 billion of credit protection from the $700 billion bailout package enacted last month.

That figure includes funds to guarantee certain corporate assets and debts, although those funds may never actually be spent. Still, the overall figure reflects the huge liabilities the government is taking on to battle the meltdown.

Among the government efforts announced Tuesday are plans to buy up to $600 billion in mortgage-related assets and up to $200 billion in loans for holders of securities backed by various types of consumer debt.

The new plans are the latest in a long list of government moves:

• March 11: The Federal Reserve announces a rescue package to provide up to $200 billion in loans to banks and investment houses and let them put up risky mortgage-backed securities as collateral.

• March 16: The Fed provides a $29 billion loan to JPMorgan Chase & Co. as part of its purchase of investment bank Bear Stearns.

• May 2: The Fed increases the size of its loans to banks and lets them put up less-secure collateral.

• July 11: Federal regulators seize Pasadena, Calif.-based IndyMac, costing the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. billions to compensate deposit-holders.

• July 30: President Bush signs a housing bill including $300 billion in new loan authority for the government to back cheaper mortgages for troubled homeowners.

• Sept. 7: The Treasury takes over mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, putting them into a conservatorship and pledging up to $200 billion to back their assets.

• Sept. 16: The Fed injects $85 billion into the failing American International Group, one of the world’s largest insurance companies.

• Sept. 16: The Fed pumps $70 billion more into the nation’s financial system to help ease credit stresses.

• Sept. 19: The Treasury temporarily guarantees money market funds against losses up to $50 billion.

• Sept. 29: The Fed makes an extra $330 billion available to other central banks, boosting to $620 billion the amount available to the Fed through currency “swap” arrangements, where dollars are traded for foreign currencies. It also triples to $225 billion the amount available for short-term loans to U.S. financial institutions.

Detroit Auto Show list shortened

Automotive News is reporting that Nissan, and its luxury brand, Infiniti, are pulling out of January’s North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

Also skipping the show are Land Rover, Mitsubishi, Suzuki and, gasp, Ferrari.

I almost don’t feel like going now.

But, tickets are paid for, so I gotta go. Wonder who else will be bailing out?

With the auto industry getting hammered, some automakers are chopping their budgets, and auto shows are included. Some, like Nissan/Infiniti, said the recent Los Angeles Auto Show was affective enough for them.

We’ll know things are REALLY bad if GM, Ford and Chrysler opt not to show in Detroit, but that would be highly, highly, highly unlikely, given that Detroit is their “hometown.”