Black Friday is defined as the Friday following Thanksgiving and the beginning of the traditional Christmas shopping season, but it should be called the “You’re crazy if you even want to attempt to shop for Christmas” day.

Black Friday has been named the busiest shopping day of the year and dates back to 1966. As the years have passed, this non-official holiday is getting more and more popular with over 135 million people participating in the shopping rush every year. Upon opening, retailers offer door buster deals to draw attention and lure people into their stores, with some opening as early as 4 a.m.

There have been some crazy stories from the 2009 season such as the “perfect shopping couple” getting married while waiting in line in front of a Best Buy and how a Target store had people lined up for eight blocks waiting to get in. The bigger cities have always been crazy, but what was Jamestown like?

“All Wal-Marts were open 24 hours to reduce the amounts of lines at the doors and a stampede. I got to work at 4:30 a.m., and the parking lot was packed,” junior Kelly Barnhart said. “There were 52 associates and 20-some cashiers working, plus every manager and a policeman for safety precautions.
People stood in line for tickets for larger items, and they were handed out accordingly for safety reasons.”
The Buffalo Mall, up by Wal-Mart, also had many people waiting for the doors of K-Mart and the mall to open.

“We opened at 6 a.m. to a clump of 200 to 300 people waiting at the door,” said JC alumnus Megan Eck. “K-Mart’s five-hour sale featured many large and expensive items for 50 percent off. We had seven checkouts going with around 15 people in each line, but all in all it went pretty smoothly.”
Senior Elly Bauer worked at Vanity that day and had this to say:

“All of the stores in the mall opened earlier than normal to prepare for the big day. Vanity had the same sale from that Wednesday through Sunday with BOGO on all full-price items and $14.99 door busters. We opened at 4 a.m. and stayed busy throughout the day. At times there were 15 to 20 people standing in the line at the cash register since we only have one.”

Even though Black Friday is not considered a national holiday, people all around the United States consider it as one. Most workers have the day off and love getting bargains, but is Black Friday really worth going out for? You be the judge.

-- Heidi Kadoun