Black Friday and Cyber Monday Shopping

Black Friday Shoppers

Last Thursday, just after our thanksgiving dinner my two daughters went shopping. This was their very, very, early black Friday shopping spree. I may even call it early gray Thursday shopping day. If you live in the US, Canada or UK, the term Black Friday should be in your vocabulary, But for others, it may not mean anything. So this article is for all my readers from 164 countries besides US, Canada and the UK who are not familiar with the terms black Friday and cyber Monday.

The day following Thanksgiving Day in the United States, traditionally the beginning of the Christmas shopping season has been called Black Friday. On this day, most major retailers open extremely early and offer promotional sales to kick off the holiday shopping season.

It is not an official holiday, but many non-retail employers also observe this day as a holiday along with Thanksgiving, giving their employees the day off, thereby increasing the number of potential shoppers.

The name originated in Philadelphia, where it originally was used to describe the heavy and disruptive pedestrian and vehicle traffic which would occur on the day after Thanksgiving. The use of the term started before 1961 and began to see broader use outside Philadelphia around 1975.

It was common for retailers to open at 6:00 a.m., but in the late 2000's many had crept to 5:00 or even 4:00 for the last 10 years. But it was not until 2011 that this was taken to a new extreme, when several retailers including Target, Kohls, Macy's, Best Buy, and Bealls opened at midnight for the first time.

This year, Walmart led several other retailers in announcing it would open its stores at 8:00 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day, prompting calls for a walkout among some workers. This walkout was on the news last night.

I did not shop last Friday, but plan on shopping on-line this coming Monday. This coming Monday is sometimes called Cyber Monday. The term was invented in 2005 by the National Retail Federation. The term is now popular all over the world. I plan on shopping on Overstock Clearance site, Amazon and other sites for my Christmas gifts.

How about you? Did you fight with the crowds last Friday? Were you able to buy a bargain Christmas gift? In my entire life here in US, I had only shop once during a Black Friday event. It was an experience I will never forget. To me it is not worth it. I will shop on line this coming Monday in comfort and no crowds pushing me. Happy Shopping to All!