New Black Friday?!

Apparently retailers can no longer count on the promotions, mobs, and extended hours of the day after Thanksgiving to boost flagging sales from the proverbial "red" and into the "black". So instead of the "Day After Christmas" we have "The NEW Black Friday" as internet headlines dub today's post-holiday sales. And our household has done its part to boost the ailing economy today by dutifully spending at a local retailer this morning.
Except our sale shopping was not exactly planned. Yesterday's sudden death for the oven highlighted the slower downward spiral of the dishwasher. Neither appliance is all that old, but both were replaced this morning. Having done our comparison shopping over the past few months while contemplating the possibility of replacement in the dim future, and brushing up on price points by scouring the internet yesterday, we were prepared to make a decision today. We had not managed to fully settle on any one direction. There were choices to be locked in on regarding features. And the inevitable color consideration.
Our kitchen has almond appliances because I have a general prejudice against white (except for socks, t-shirts, and linens), if it can be avoided, and black tends to be super shiny and show fingerprints. Stainless might be given preference, but it causes too much of a contraction in the pocketbook to be appealing. Except that the sign in-store said the stainless range with the dual-size element option and giant 3-rack oven had no price difference between black and Clean Steel (all the pretty and most of the price of stainless typically, but not prone to dings, dents, or fingerprints). That's not the sort of thing we have come to expect when mooning over upgraded finishes. Sound too good to be true? It was, but because the sign was wrong, we were given the price by an unhappy store manager.
I'm still a little nauseous over making a major purchase today, but it will give our somewhat antiquated, er, Retro kitchen a much more modern look when the new range and it's accompanying dishwasher (might as well get the most out of the delivery fee that will be rebated...) arrive in their gleaming "Clean Steel" finishes to boost us into the 21st century.