Don’t break down the door
by Jasmine Tejada, staff reporter
Shoppers left the retail please with what was in their bags, and eager to make it to the next store on their list.
Right after a feast with family and friends, consumers rush to the nearest retail store to take full advantage of sales.
Behind Black Friday:
Since the 1960s, retailers have managed to attract customers with a day dedicated to amazing sales the day after Thanksgiving, known as Black Friday. According to Black Friday History, before Walmart’s innovative inventory accounting record, where a computer did all of the daunting tasks, recorders were updated in stores by hand. So retailers had to manually change red labels to black, which was a symbol of profit, the actual price and the gain firms made.
21st century Black Friday:
Traditionally on Fridays, retailers would arrive before the store open, and have customers waiting on lines around the block to get in. But this year, sales began on Thursday at 6pm, allowing New Yorkers to skip the long nights wait to get into stores like Macy’s, Target, and Walmart.
“First I went to my family’s Thanksgiving dinner, then I came to work. Tonight is a great for people to buy presents or electronics they wanted that were too expensive [at regular price],” Target employee Denise Valdez said.
Even though Black Friday is usually the day after being thankful and giving, shoppers can let their selfishness get the best of them and may even turn to violence.
“People killing other people for these sales and 20 bucks is ridiculous. It just shows how much people have down graded; many people have become too obsessed with material goods, and it’s something we as a culture need to fix,” Toys R’ Us shopper Brian DiGiovanni said.
Hottest Items:
According to Bankrate, the best deals on Black Friday pertained to electronic items. The items people purchased included: tablets, HDTVs, DVDs and video games. Those who weren’t shopping for electronics were more interested in buying home goods.
“Anything you don’t need isn’t worth waiting on line, but if someone wants a television, there are great deals” physics teacher Ms. Katz said.