After a humongous Thanksgiving feast, many people are stuffed to the point of thinking they might never be able to get up again. However, there is one incentive for them to get up the next day.
The phenomenon is known as Black Friday and it’s celebrated by Americans everywhere. However the majority of Staples students are not Black Friday fans.
“I usually don’t go shopping on Black Friday because it’s always really crowded, disorganized and hard to find sizes, salespeople or dressing rooms,” Zoe Mezoff ’17 said.
Black Friday is a day where many people splurge on items that are much more reasonably priced than the previous week. Mezoff found the best deals tend to lie in large department stores such as Bloomingdales, Walmart and Target.
Bloomingdales in particular offers many popular brands and a variety of deals. This includes discounts ranging from 20 to 50 percent off to 50 dollars off for every 100 to 200 dollars spent.
The dark title for a widely anticipated season has caused some confusion. This deal-filled day marks the start of the holiday shopping season so why is it called Black Friday?
“It’s called Black Friday because of everyone getting black eyes trying to get flat screen TVs,” Joe Blaikie ’17 said.
Given the frenzy from previous years, Blaikie’s explanation for the name Black Friday isn’t too ridiculous. Since 2006, there have been seven deaths and over 90 injuries due to these Black Friday free-for-alls in America.
Despite the dark undertones of this day of discounts after Thanksgiving, its title actually originated in the 1960s to mark the kickoff to the Christmas shopping season. Retailers referred to the day as black because at the time accounting records were kept by hand, and red ink indicated a loss, and black a profit.
Due to the large sales on this day, the retailers earn quite a large profit. The bustling of shopping bags doesn’t stop on Friday. After having the weekend to reflect on what was forgotten in the chaotic Friday shopping spree another major sale day comes swooping in: Cyber Monday.
Cyber Monday is the perfect alternative for online shopping gurus and is very popular as well.
“I do all of my holiday shopping on Cyber Monday [because] I don’t have to wake up too early and claw someone’s face off to get a good deal,” Megan Hines ’18 said.
All the students interviewed agreed the free shipping, no crowds and option to never leave the house appealed much more than the Black Friday rush.
