Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving when stores have huge sales to encourage people to start their Christmas shopping.

In the past, people have started their shopping in the early hours of the morning, sometimes as early as 5 or 6 am — or even the night before — in order to get the best sales. Black Friday is known for the huge crowds it brings to malls and stores and the competitive nature of the shoppers.
In 2020, Black Friday was put on halt, as in-store shopping and large crowds were not recommended due to COVID precautions. Stores held sales online, but it definitely wasn’t the same. With life slowly returning to “normal,” many people wondered whether Black Friday would ever be what it once was again.
Black Friday fell on November 26 this year; however most stores featured sales the whole week before, both for online and in-person shopping. In-person Black Friday shopping dropped 28.3% compared to 2019, but it increased almost 50% compared to last year in the height of the pandemic.
Senior Alita Pirozzi said that she went Black Friday shopping, but that the environment was very different than it had been in previous years. “The sales were underwhelming compared to what they normally are. The sales didn’t seem special or really worth it like most years, but there were just small price drops.”
After the changes COVID caused to Black Friday traditions, Black Friday will probably never fully return to a one day holiday for in-store only shopping. Stores are able to sell more when they continue their sales through the week of Thanksgiving and have options for both online and in store shopping.
Cyber Monday, which in years past was the following Monday where stores hosted sales online, is no longer celebrated much anymore since Black Friday sales are also online.
Another major change to Black Friday this year was that Walmart, Target, and Best Buy were closed on Thanksgiving. In the past, some people began their shopping at these stores late on Thanksgiving night and then visited the malls early Friday morning.
Even without a pandemic, Black Friday was disliked by many because of how competitive the shoppers could get and how crowded the stores could get. The day can be much more accessible to everyone in its current nature.