Black Friday: the true American way

Black Friday [blak frahy-dey]: the most intense shopping day of the entire year; considered the start of the holiday season; takes place the day after Thanksgiving; labeled under the term “black” either because shoppers will go out shopping before the sun comes up, or the fact that stores making profits are “in the black.”

In true American fashion we have converted one of the most economically disastrous days to one of the most infamous shopping days of the year. There are even entire Web sites devoted to the phenomenon of Black Friday (www.blackfriday.fm — “Your Black Friday Source and www.blackfriday.info/, for example), so yes, it is a big deal. Each year, as I groggily step out of bed around mid-morning, I marvel at the fact that people will consciously get up before the sun to snag an extra 20 percent off something that they might not have bought otherwise. As blackfriday.fm kindly informs, most sales start at 12 a.m. and peak between 1 a.m. and 4 a.m. Stores participating in Black Friday this year include Sears, Macy’s, Best Buy, Target, Barnes & Noble, Nordstrom, Bath and Body Works, and Gamestop. Of course, after visiting macys.com, I find myself a little baffled to see advertisements for “The Biggest One Day Sale” — gosh, it seems like they have a lot of those — on Nov. 18. So why the hype about Black Friday? What kinds of special discounts are we actually getting?

As a lazy shopper — I really don’t go beyond one store in the mall — I can’t help but ask: In a world full of “One Day Sales,” what makes this day so different from the other 364? Are we just participating en masse in one of the most renowned shopping days of the year? Picking at leftover pumpkin pie, still in my oversized pajamas, I usually begin to analyze my shopping options for the day. Inevitably, despite the brightly colored ads strewn across the kitchen counter, I always come to the conclusion that I would save the most money by just staying at home. Or as Steve Martin once said, “Don’t buy things you can’t afford.” Of course there’s always the classic home-for-the-holidays-sale, my personal favorite: Mom & Dad — 100 percent off, everything must go! My shopping advice this Thanksgiving: Stay home or go out with the parentals. Either way you’ll save valuable money and avoid buying things you don’t need.