Early Deals and Online shopping have changed everything
As a little girl, I remember Black Friday being so special. On Thanksgiving Day, my whole family would sit around talking about which stores we wanted to hit at our local mall, and we’d wake up as early as 5 a.m. to start the adventure. Some years, my mom had to get up even earlier to stand in those insanely long lines outside of an electronics store just to grab the brand-new Xbox for my brother. I loved the excitement of waiting for deals we’d talked about for weeks. I never personally saw people running or fighting over items, but watching those chaotic videos online was basically part of the fun.
Lately, though, Black Friday just doesn’t feel the same. For the past few years, there’s been way less hype. A big reason, I think, is that the deals aren’t as special or exclusive anymore. What used to happen once a year now happens constantly. So many of the clothing brands I shop at already run huge sales year-round, so a Black Friday deal has to be massive to feel meaningful; otherwise, it just blends in with everything else. And with so many deals being posted online, the whole point of going in person starts to disappear, even though that in-person chaos was always what made the day fun.
Another big change is that Black Friday now starts whenever. I see ads weeks ahead of time. Companies launch early access deals days before Thanksgiving, which kind of defeats the whole purpose. When you can get something on sale whenever you want, there’s no reason to wake up early or go to the mall. The urgency is gone. People can just watch price drops from their couch.
It feels like fewer people are excited about it, and no one I know is really planning anything big this year. It makes me wonder what the future of Black Friday even is. We already have Cyber Monday, and honestly, Black Friday is just becoming Cyber Monday at this point. I’m still going to try and shop in person this year instead of on my laptop, but it makes me sad knowing I probably won’t get to feel that same rush I grew up with. And it’s even sadder that for so many people, the Black Friday I loved is something they’ll probably never experience again.