You look at the clock. 5:45 p.m. Thanksgiving dinner is finally ready. You and your family sit down. Your uncle starts to say grace. It is at this point when the impatience sets in. Black “Friday” shopping starts in less than 15 minutes and you’re going to miss all the best sales. The tablets at Best Buy? Gone. The new Xbox Ones at Gamestop? Sold out instantaneously. Any decent looking clothing at the mall? Better luck next time.
It is still Thanksgiving night and the best sales are already disappearing. Many have to rush through their Thanksgiving dinner just to make the commute to the mall or wherever else they can save a few bucks. It is 6 p.m. and popular stores such as, Target, Macy’s, Walmart, and Best Buy are already opening their doors. Black Thursday has unfortunately become just as popular as Black Friday.
In the past, people could eat their Thanksgiving dinner, enjoy a night with the family, then wake up early the next morning to go trample helpless people in order to save money on a television. But now that it’s 2015, people need to start the trampling before most families finish their food.
The idea of Black Friday in the first place is sickening. In the past nine years at Walmart, 60 people have been either injured or killed in the quest for sales. Although the deals are great, it is not worth the lack of sleep or the risk of injury. Now that Black Friday starts in the evening on the day before Friday, some people are choosing to shop twice: once on Thanksgiving day and once again on Friday.
However, some stores are choosing to begin a reverse trend by choosing NOT to open on Thanksgiving Day. Stores such as TJMaxx, Costco, Marshalls, and more are deciding that Thanksgiving is a day meant to be spent with family, as stated by WRAL.com. According to DealNews.com, REI is not opening on Thanksgiving Day OR Black Friday.
Some may see Black Thursday as a positive alternative to waking up early on Friday. However, it seems to just steal the thunder of Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is meant to be a day where families can bond over eating disgusting amounts of turkey and stuffing. But now, the idea of family bonding has been surpassed by the idea of stampeding into a Walmart to save some money.
Why is there such thing as Black Thursday? Wasn’t Black Friday supposed to be the “Big Sale,” the Friday after Thanksgiving? Why and when did stores begin to open on Thursday? Stores believe that by opening earlier, the buyers will come to their store. But studies conducted by the International Council of Shopping Centers’ Jean Lambert show that only 12 percent of shoppers planned to shop on Thanksgiving Day, as much of them would rather spend time with family and friends rather than shopping.
Thanksgiving is intended to be a holiday to, you guessed it, give thanks. People use the holiday to tell others what they’re thankful for and to count all the blessings they have in their life. Having stores open on Thanksgiving completely ruins the principle of the entire holiday.
