Black Friday 2012 marked the first time in recent history that shoppers weren’t waiting outside in the early hours Friday morning for large-scale retailers to open. Rather they finished their Thanksgiving meals and went directly to the stores.
Many outlets opened as early as 8 p.m. Thursday, including Walmart and Sears. Despite this attempt to draw shoppers in early, there was a 1.8 percent decrease in sales, according to ShopperTrak, the world’s largest retail shopper track service.
Sophomore Zac McGee said that he did not think Black Friday should interfere with Thanksgiving or time with family.
“Everyone should be able to spend Thanksgiving with their family regardless of their profession,” he said. “I don’t think capitalism should stratify society as far as being able to spend time with your family. That’s really important.”
Junior Courtney Rowe went Black Friday shopping at a Walmart in Mays Landing, N.J. She said she felt sorry for workers who were unable to shop themselves.
“It sucks that the people that are working aren’t able to get the big ticket items just because they need to work in order to pay for them,” she said.
Senior Cara Chamberlain worked a 4 a.m. shift Black Friday at a perfume store in Westminster, Md. Chamberlain said she got up at 3:15 a.m. to work, but the store didn’t see any customers until around 8 a.m.
“I think it’s ridiculous for stores to open this early. Some of the stores in the mall opened at midnight, and some opened on Thanksgiving night,” she said.
Senior Ryan Greene said his shift at Abercrombie & Fitch that began at 11 p.m. cut into his Thanksgiving break. The store opened exactly at midnight.
“I didn’t think it was fair for my job to cut into my holiday time, but we did get paid time and a half to work the overnight shift so it was worth it in the end,” he said.
ShopperTrak reported a foot traffic increase of 3.5 percent with more than 307 million store visits Friday and estimated $11.2 billion from sales.
Injuries and riots on Black Friday are often in the media eye. In 2008, at a Long Island Walmart over 2,000 shoppers attempted to enter the store before it even opened, trampling one employee to death.