Some people may consider Christmas their favorite holiday. Others- Thanksgiving. But for Emma Luo ’22, it’s Black Friday. Black Friday is that Friday following Thanksgiving Day in the United States, which is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November. The day after Thanksgiving marks the beginning of America’s Christmas shopping season as an endless of abyss of people cram into malls.
Many stores mark their prices down by more than half and have promoted this day weeks in advance. Black Friday is not an official holiday, but at this point it should be. People take days off work, and others travel far. Many schools have both Thanksgiving and the following Friday off which also increases the number of shoppers flocking the mall.
The earliest use of “Black Friday” originated in Philadelphia to describe the heavy traffic flow on that Friday after Thanksgiving. Decades later, the phrase has resurfaced to mark a turn for retailers from being “in the red” to being “in the black.”
This day has become so popular that stores have opened as early as midnight. So, malls are already full before the party has even started.
Put the kids in bed early. Throw on your best workout outfit and get ready to get down and dirty because Black Friday is not easy. It is quite a workout: people sleep outside the mall overnight in hopes of receiving the best deals on a new TV or stove, and there have been reports of violence occurring between shoppers as well. Since 2006 there have been 12 reported deaths and 117 injuries.
When asked what’s her game plan for the Friday after Thanksgiving, Natalie Wu ’22 answered, “I’ll be out of my bed by 6 a.m. and my best friends and I are heading to NorthPark mall for the best time,”
Like Wu and Luo, millions will be celebrating this unofficial national holiday and will be hitting online sites and malls in hopes of owning their most desired items one day.
Image courtesy of Sarah Nguyen ’20
