Friday, November 28th
Key Vocabulary:
- Traditionally (adverb) – in a way that is based on tradition or long-established customs.
- Marks (verb) – to indicate or show something; to make a visible sign or impression.
- DoorBusters (Noun, plural) – Special promotional sales, often with deep discounts, designed to attract large numbers of customers, particularly during big sales events like Black Friday.
- Deals (Noun, plural) – Agreements or transactions, especially those involving discounts or special offers in shopping.
- Mayhem (Noun) – Chaos, disorder, or violence, often involving confusion and destruction.
- To mirror (Verb) – To reflect or resemble something closely.
- Brick-and-mortar (Adjective) – Referring to traditional physical businesses (such as stores or offices) as opposed to online or digital businesses.
Black Friday is the Friday after Thanksgiving, which traditionally marks the start of the Christmas shopping season in the United States – it’s also one of the busiest shopping days of the year.
Around 2003, many stores began opening as early as 5 a.m. with “doorbuster” deals – deep discounts on select items.
Its these huge discounts that cause the mayhem with people fighting over cheap TV’s and other discounted items.
In the early 2000’s stores extended their hours even earlier, opening on Thanksgiving night – staying open through Black Friday. These sales were often called “Black Thursday”. However, these sales were somewhat of a failure, and stores slowly began returning to closing on Thanksgiving, opening instead on Black Friday.
As the internet became more popular, many people started shopping online and in 2005, Cyber Monday was born. It was intended to mirror the brick-and-mortar sales stores offered on Black Friday. Black Friday became so popular that in 2015, Amazon even held a Black Friday sale in July!
Whether you’re looking for a new TV, a computer, or a pair of socks, it’s guaranteed you will be able to find a deal somewhere, either online or in person on Black Friday or Cyber Monday!