Has anyone noticed that Black Friday deals seem to pop up earlier and earlier every year? And then as soon as Black Friday is done, Boxing Day sales start to emerge. More than a month before the actual day. Why? I realize stores are trying to capitalize on the sales but it just doesn’t seem special anymore.
Black Friday is always the Friday after Thanksgiving in the United States. It traditionally marks the start of the Christmas shopping season in the U.S. and now also in Canada. The concept was always that stores would offer highly promoted sales at heavily discounted prices and often open early, sometimes as early as midnight or even on Thanksgiving.
Black Friday this year is on Nov. 29 but I’ve been seeing ads for sales that have already started. I've even seen an ad for one store that is giving a different deal every week for the month of November and calling it Black Friday deals.
Many believe the term Black Friday derives from the concept that businesses operate at a financial loss, or are “in the red,” until the day after Thanksgiving, when massive sales finally allow them to turn a profit, or put them “in the black.”
I remember seeing the craziness on the news the day after Black Friday, people fighting over toys and lining up in front of stores hours before they opened. I don’t see that anymore. I mean the end of fighting crushing people is good, but the excitement disappearing, and the deals not being very deep, are a disappointment.
Even Cyber Monday, which has sprouted up in recent years, isn’t anything worth waiting for.
I realize that retailers offering deals all the time spreads out the craziness or business of the holidays. It gives some more breathing room for shipping companies, but then they shouldn’t call the deals Black Friday deals or Boxing Day deals, leave those for the actual days. Advertisers are very creative, they can come up with different themes.
In Smithers, we have Plaid Friday on Nov. 29, a fun initiative from the chamber of commerce to show some love for local businesses. The idea is to wear plaid on the 29th, shop locally, then bring in receipts to the Chamber office on either Nov. 29 or Dec. 2 to win a swag bag of locally sourced goodies.
