Ken's Black Friday Adventure

G’day everyone! My chums and I have prepared for the holiday season this year by writing lists of what everyone wants for Christmas. They asked for many things, such as Emma wanting a new pink hoodie, Henri asking for a new soccer ball, and Stefan wishing for a CD of Journey’s album ‘Infinity’, one of his favorite albums. With my busy schedule, I needed time to go out and find what my chums wanted for Christmas. Luckily, I realized that Black Friday was coming up, and I could find all my chums' presents in one day. For those who don’t know, BlackFriday is one of the busiest shopping days of the year, when people go out to find great holiday deals. While I knew it was going to be busy, I decided to visit the local Tokki Mall to find all the gifts my chums wanted on Black Friday.

I stepped into the mall, realizing how crowded it was with people everywhere, all carrying shopping bags filled with their purchases. I decided to find Emma’s pink hoodie first at the store, Hoodie Hub. The store is known for its diverse selection of hoodies, featuring a range of premier and basic brands. I headed to the back oft he store where the hoodie she wanted was, and to my surprise, there was none left on the rack! My fear of the store being sold out of the exact hoodie she wanted frightened me. I pictured Emma’s disappointment on Christmas Day if I couldn't secure her dream hoodie in time. Many of the employees were running around helping others, but I was lucky to catch someone and ask if there wereany more pink hoodies left in stock. They paused to think and went into thebackroom to see if there was any left. As I waited, I planned my approach for what to do if they didn’t have any left. This was the only hoodie store in the mall, so if I needed to find it elsewhere, I would need to travel further to another hoodie store. The employee came back carrying one hoodie, a pink hoodie that Emma described as the one she wanted. The employee said, “You’re very lucky, there was one left we had.” I thanked them very much for checking and paying for it. After finding Emma’s gift, I was on to my next adventure to find a soccer ball for Henri.

I went to Prime Kicks, a store that sells everything soccer-related for soccer fans. At the store, there weren’t as many customers shopping or checking out in the lines. They had a wide range of soccer equipment to purchase, including cleats, shin guards, socks, and goalkeeper gloves. After looking around, I found the section where soccer balls were sold. This section had numerous soccer balls for sale, many of which came in various colors. Since the FIFA World Cup is coming to parts of the U.S. in 2026, there is a large selection of soccer balls with bright, standout colors for people to choose from. However, I was on the hunt for a regular black and white soccer ball that Henri asked for. Sure enough, I found one that was inflated to its correct weight and was clean of any scratches and marks. I even gave it a little kick, just to test out how it felt. Don’t tell Henri I did that! After my fun, I went and checked out on my way to find Stefan’s gift.

The Rock Den was the place to check out to find Stefan’s CD. The store was known for selling all things music-related, from CDs to vinyl. However, when I started looking for Stefan’s CD, I noticed that many of the CDs and vinyl were displaced. For example, there were many jazz CDs in the classic rock section where I was looking. It’s possible that due to the many shoppers, it was difficult to keep all the pieces of music organized. It was an adventure just to find where the classic rock CDs were! I went through all the genres to find it, starting with rap, then blues, and then country. All these categories had different music genres than what were listed at the store. Fortunately for me, I stumbled upon the funk section, and I was able to find Journey albums among the many other classic rock CDs. I flipped through all of them, with the hope of finding ‘Infinity’ somewhere. Eventually, I did! It was the last one listed in the section, so I quickly grabbed it, checked out, and left the mall. It was a successful day of finding all the gifts I needed for my chums. My best advice for shopping on Black Friday is to pack your patience. It’s good to have a plan of action and a back up plan in case something goes wrong

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