Black Friday may still be the most popular shopping day of the year, but Thanksgiving Day is growing as competition. According to the National Retail Federation, more than 35 million people shopped on Thanksgiving Day last year. Shopping on Thanksgiving started as a test run in 2010, when only 10 percent of shoppers took advantage of the deals available. Last year, 28 percent were shopping hours before Friday began.   Special deals will happen on Thanksgiving, Nov. 28, and Black Friday, Nov. 29, with some deals being specials only available for a certain period of time.

Some of this year’s hottest sellers will consist of flat screen TV’s, the new Xbox One and the newest Sony PlayStation and even new computers and phones.   While the earliest store openings were at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving in 2012, Best Buy and Walmart plan to open at 6 p.m. this year. Toys R Us is one-upping both and opening at 5 p.m. Kmart shocked the retail world by announcing it would have its stores open 41-hours straight, from 6 a.m. Thanksgiving morning to 11 p.m. Black Friday night.

As with any Black Friday, it’s best to be an early bird. However, be aware that rival shoppers will snatch up the best deals Thursday night, which could leave bare shelves by the time you hit the stores on the actual Black Friday. Many say it’s no surprise to why a lot of people are starting to shop during Thanksgiving. If we look at past years we see shoppers are also becoming increasingly aggressive, as news reports of store stampedes and injuries have made headlines with each and every year. Shopping before Black Friday is getting more and more popular because of these reasons.

Many students in our school even plan on shopping for Black Friday. Students were picked randomly, and asked if they were going and if they were, then for what reason and where.  Some of those students consist of Luke Huxhold, Echo Bateholts, Daisy Garney, and Jonah Biss.  All students seem very eager to attend black Friday shopping to get the upper edge on the prices of popular items.

• Luke said he is going to Walmart as soon as it opens for a new game (Call of Duty: Ghosts) that he has been dying to play for some time.
• Daisy said she plans on going all over the place early Friday morning in search of getting stuff for friends and family.
• Echo plans on going with her older brother to the mall in Saratoga to get stuff for their family. Although she never stated a time of day she says she can’t wait for the annual event.
• Jonah is going shopping on Friday morning with his girlfriend Molly and her sister.  They plan on getting up early and heading to Saratoga to see what kind of good deals they can get.

This year marks a change in how people do their Black Friday shopping.  Originally Black Friday was about stores getting out of the “red” and actually turning a profit.  Now, it is about getting out of the “red” but also trying to one-up the competition by seeing who can open earlier and offer the best deals.  Comment below to let us know if you plan on doing any Black Friday (Thursday) shopping!