Lines out the door of big box stores, waking up early on a cold November morning, fighting through store aisles to find that perfect gift—Black Friday, as I remember it. An American tradition starting to disappear.
Black Friday for those who don’t know, is the Friday after Thanksgiving. On this day most corporate stores, like Target or Walmart, have big sales or savings. In my family, we use Black Friday to go Christmas gift shopping, like most people who celebrate Christmas will, because on Black Friday everything is selling for less.
In our new age of technology, I have seen many things disappear to the internet realm; shopping, of course, being one of these things. With in-store shopping continuously being phased out in exchange for online shopping, I wonder what will happen to the classic Black Friday of my childhood, because it is almost gone.
Black Friday was huge back in the ’80s and ‘90s. Previous to internet popularity, Black Friday was like another holiday. “America’s Shopping Holiday” was described as masses of people flocking to stores for discounts and deals. In the 2000s, “Cyber Monday” was created, even then stores were still full for the shopping holiday. Even though we could shop online, I would always go in-store with my family anyway – like most others would. But now, not only do we have “Cyber Monday”, but cyber every day, as online shopping gets easier and websites like Amazon start “Black Friday” deals at the start of November.
Sadly, I believe that Black Friday is no longer as relevant as it has been in the past. I see online shopping evolving and in-store shopping depleting. Regardless, I know that I will still be hitting the stores in person this year because it is something that I can do with my friends and family. Hopefully, many people will do the same when we realize we can’t spend our whole life in front of a screen.
