Madelynn Northcutt-Wyly, Period 6

Black Friday Shopping


http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/11/27/black-friday-starts-early-for-some-holiday-shoppers-retailers/


This year Black Friday shopping started earlier than normal; stores were beginning their sales at 3 pm Thanksgiving day.  Macy's in Manhattan opened their doors at 6 pm with 15,000 people shopping.  Toys R Us opened their store doors an hour earlier with over 100 people in line at Times Square.  Many of these store's parking lots looked the same way as the aisles; crowded and backed up.  One employee described Black Friday shopping as, "It's the worst wonderful time of the year."  One family from Denver stood out in the snow with her husband and four kids to get a pair of $20 boots at J.C. Penney's.  Some stores did the complete opposite and closed for Thanksgiving day like REI and Staples.  These stores were asking their employees to stay at home and enjoy the holidays with their families.  The National Retail Federation expected 30 million to be shopping on Thanksgiving day and 99.7 million on Black Friday.  Something new this year, Wal-Mart and Target have opened up their Black Friday deals to online, so shoppers could avoid the crazy crowds. 
Black Friday shopping has changed through the years.  People are now camping out in front of stores the night before Thanksgiving to get discounts.  Black Friday discounts have changed Thanksgiving traditions for some families.  For example; the one family I talked about above, she took her four kids and husband out in the snow to get $20 boots on Thanksgiving day.  Instead of gathering with the family and eating a traditional meal, people are camping outside of stores waiting to purchase the latest electronic device.  Thanksgiving is suppose to be a day to be thankful for everything you have, not the new things that you want.  I know this is an important day for the merchants, but opening earlier is keeping the employees and customers away from spending Thanksgiving with their families.