By Josh Choe, Sports Editor
Black Friday sweeps by on its annual course every Friday after Thanksgiving. A day marking the start of seasonal shopping, businesses nationwide participate in an average of a 33.5% discount on store inventory. Millions of people nationwide rush to get the best deal that they can on the notable red and black, shopping spree themed day.
Its history dates back to the late 1950’s where Philadelphia would dub the Friday “Black Friday”, for the day following Thanksgiving, animated shoppers and tourists would flood the city in anticipation for the Army vs. Navy football game held in the city the following Saturday annually. By 1961, this annual bedlam and the name Black Friday became known nationwide for its antics. In 1980, retailers would take this date and turn it into something more profitable; the Black Friday we know today. Retail holidays would soon spawn as spin off’s of Black Friday, and frantic holiday shopping with discounted deals and crack of dawn opening businesses would become all the rage.
Students at Mills are not unfamiliar with this annual tradition of stockpiling a wishlist and waiting for certain desired items to get this best deal on Black Friday.
I know fully well how much I personally take advantage of this anticipated date. From making wishlists in the Notes app of my phone, any item that is particularly expensive or item that is not part of a good deal throughout the year, I wait until Black Friday for. It’s something I do annually, and I’m sure that many others do as well.
Items that I particularly like to wait for since they don’t get much deals are: equipment and various items for working out, health supplements, and all ranges of clothing. Personally, I’m waiting for websites such as New Era Cap’s, YoungLA, and general retail shopping stores such as Amazon.
Other Mills students also agree on my (and millions of other people’s) opinion on taking advantage of these sales. Austin Wong (12) says, “I do shop on Black Friday, every year annually. I mean, the sales and prices are too good not to, why would anyone not be taking advantage of it?”. Other students also agree with this statement. Matthew Yu (12) talks about his experience with Black Friday, “This year in particular, I’ve been looking at different clothing item drops, hoping to get some new hoodies and pants. Stores I’m hoping to see on sale are Carhartt and Dickies. Personally, I’d just Google online to see the best deals.”
Of course, there’s many other items that get good deals on Black Friday, after all, all items do. For gamers out there, monitors, keyboards and mice, or computer parts all get good deals on Black Friday on stores such as Amazon or Newegg, and if not, on Cyber Monday, a few days following Black Friday. For those who wear makeup, stores such as Sephora are going to have good deals.
Now, obviously, it’s no debate that Black Friday is totally worth it. After all, money doesn’t come by easily and for some, this is a chance to finally have some financial freedom in buying livery. Storewide discounts on all inventory is not a typical event either.
As everyone takes advantage of this worth, however, some problems become very prevalent; which is why it’s a good idea to prepare. The moment that item prices are slashed on Black Friday, it’s a common problem for items to be sold out quickly; so quickly that you may not even get a chance to add it to your virtual cart.
Some advice to combat this problem would be to have a list written down somewhere, whether it’s like me on my Notes app, or a physical paper, and to have the according items on the website you’re buying it from open in multiple tabs. Items should also be already in your virtual cart, so you can anticipate being ready to pay as opposed to rushing against others to be able to get ahold of whatever item you’re waiting for.
Deals are also different across websites; do your research! Google searches such as “best Black Friday deals for ___,” and whatever item you want, will lead you to the best chances of getting the lowest price.
As a last piece of advice, it’s a really good idea to create a budget and stick to it. It’s easy to get carried away by the slashed prices but it’s definitely not easy to get that money back when you realize you’ve spent more than you should have; especially with the delayed returns because of the amount of sales.
