Things have really changed this year because of the pandemic, especially the holidays. I think many people were hoping that things would get better by the time the fall and winter holidays came around so that they could enjoy the season the same way they had previously. Sadly, the way that Thanksgiving, Christmas, and even Black Friday are being celebrated have drastically changed.
In my family, Black Friday is really “celebrated”— I’m not sure how else to put it. We have been participating in Black Friday for so many years that I cannot even remember when it became a part of my family’s Thanksgiving traditions. It kind of just feels like we have been doing it forever, and every year we get more into the spirit of things.
What is Black Friday?
Before getting into anything else, I think it would be nice to talk about Black Friday and what it looked like in previous years. Black Friday always lands on the (Fri)day after Thanksgiving, known as the unofficial start to Christmas (or holiday) shopping. Many stores and companies create massive deals on the various goods they have in stock to promote shopping for the holiday season. And well, people go, look for a bargain, and buy those things. The main reason that it got the name “Black Friday” was because companies make enough sales (money) that they are “in the black.” In finance, being “in the black” means that companies are not at a loss; if they were at a loss, they would be “in the red” for the rest of the year. Essentially, so much shopping happens on this one day that companies create enough revenue to offset their costs and make a profit.
What did it look like in previous years?
Black Friday has been getting bigger and bigger every year, with more stores and companies participating. Along with this increase in participation, the deals that are being offered have also become insane. And because of how good some of the deals are, many people act “crazed” during this holiday. In some cases, there’s a lot of yelling and fighting to get the product. Generally, this happens when the deal is really good and when the item is running out, or there is limited stock.
However, most Black Friday shopping is relatively standard; sure, everyone’s a little nervous and on edge to get the item on their wishlist. In general, people are civil and don’t want to bother anybody else. Personally, I think this holiday gets a lot of bad hype in the media because of how much (some) people want a particular item. Another thing to note about this holiday is that many people would be out and about during all times of the day, and a lot of stores would be filled with people no matter the time of day — 2 a.m. or 10 p.m. And the time that the stores open don’t really matter because there will always be people standing outside camped out in a line, waiting for the doors to open.
One of the things that I’ve noticed over the past few years is that because stores are competing with one another, they started changing the times they open. By this, I mean, stores began opening up earlier in the day. For example, instead of 8 a.m., they would open up at 6 a.m., and then maybe the next year, they would open up at 4 a.m., and the following year the opening would start at midnight. I believe last year Walmart opened its doors for Black Friday shopping at 4 p.m. on Thanksgiving day.
What does it look like now?
Because of COVID-19, the understanding of what Black Friday will look like has changed completely. Stores are still open and have been posting deals; however, many have chosen to extend the sales’ time span. Some stores have either made their Black Friday all month long or, at the very least, they have made it a few days longer. The stores are spacing out deals this whole month in hopes of avoiding mass gatherings of people at their stores come Friday. Along with this, the stores are encouraging people to shop online or to order online and do curbside pick up. I think that there will not be the same amount of people in stores as in previous years, but many people will still go in person to shop. We will definitely see many more people being cautious of where they are standing, how close they are to other people in lines, and of course, everyone wearing masks (fingers crossed for this one!).
What did Black Friday look like for my family in the past?
In previous years, we always made a game plan for what would happen and what we will be doing on Black Friday. During the month of November, my brother and I would wait for the Sunday newspapers to look at the ad section and see if any Black Friday ads had been released. If they weren’t in the newspaper, we would try and find out if the ad had been released online. We would browse through the web to see if there was anything we wanted. Some years we created PowerPoint presentations on what we would do, and other years we wrote everything down on a big whiteboard.
After figuring out what the plan was, we would gather all of the supplies we needed. For example, if the store anticipated having a line outside, we would get chairs and blankets. Sometimes my family would split up with two people waiting in one line and two people staying in another line, or two people at one store and two people at another store. While in line, we would always talk about where everyone wanted to go, where we would meet up, and finally check out. In some places where the checkout lines were super long, we would have one person designated to stand in line even before we had everything we wanted so that we could leave quickly.
What does it look like for us now?
I think I started looking for Black Friday ads in the middle of October because I was looking forward to planning and sort of using this holiday as a mood booster. But other than looking through the ads, I haven’t been able to do anything else because of how different everything is this year. However, my brother took the time and created a Script that scrapes for all the deals for any item one may search for and then gives the best deals for that item in an Excel file. I think because of this, looking through and figuring out what we may buy will be a lot easier and faster.
In general, my family and I are planning to socially distance, wear masks, and shop safely! (Which I recommend you and your family and friends do as well!)
Have a great Thanksgiving break and an even better Black Friday!