BLACK FRIDAY 2009

Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, is the biggest shopping day of the year in the United States.  On that day profits are higher for the retailers than any other day in the year.  (The word ‘black’ is an accounting term which means profits instead of loss—sales being in the ‘black’ versus being in the ‘red’.)

In the ‘old’ days Black Friday wasn’t called Black Friday although that was the day (the day after Thanksgiving) when the stores officially kicked off the Christmas shopping season.  There was a time when it was considered very early for a store to open their doors at 7:00 a.m. or 8:00 a.m.  As retailers compete with one another, they are now to the point where some stores will open as early as midnight on the evening of Thanksgiving!  Most others will be open by 3:00 a.m. or 4:00 a.m. on Black Friday. 

Retailers continue to come up with new ways to get shoppers into their stores, offering deeper discounts and special sales.  In the past their sales ads would appear in the newspapers a day or two before Black Friday.  Now one can go online and find ads for a most stores weeks in advance of Black Friday.  One website www.bfads.net is exactly that, Black Friday Ads!

All this has me wondering where it is all headed.  Thanksgiving was once the special day…now it seems as if all the focus is on the day after — Black Friday!  How far might the marketing tactics go?  The stores can’t open any earlier than midnight unless they open right on Thanksgiving Day.  Is that what’s next?  Hmmm, I wonder if they might  even decide to partner with restaurants in the malls and offer a “Thanksgiving Day Dinner and Shopping Spree”????

It would certainly be sad if someday the purpose and meaning of Thanksgiving Day is completely lost amidst all the marketing hype! 

Julie