Word on the Street — Black Friday

Each year, Americans celebrate Thanksgiving as a time to unite and be thankful for all our blessings, and then many now spend the day after buying discounted gifts for Christmas on what is known as Black Friday. Now, however, more and more stores are opening on Thanksgiving day itself to get a head start on the “doorbuster” sales day. The Harbinger asked students what they thought about the merging of Black Friday and Thanksgiving.

 

Marc Tchamba, 22, Abidjan, Ivory Coast

“I just think it’s a business. It’s not good or bad because whatever they do it’s all the same; whatever they do they’re trying to make profit out of it, so I don’t think it’s good or bad. It’s good for the people who do it, but it is still just business.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alex Sawyer, 18, Delavan

“Well, its awesome having deals and stuff, but I don’t participate. I think it’s actually crazy how people die for a deal; trampled to death for saving a couple of hundred bucks, if that. You should be able to control it better than that. I don’t go out and do it.”

 

 

 

 

 

Samantha Cusack, 24, East Peoria

“I don’t really have a preference. As long people are allowed to spend time with their families before the stores open, then they can go out and do their shopping, and I don’t think it affects anyone one way or another.”

 

 

 

 

 

Abby Primo, 19, Tremont

“I think that stores should not open until midnight on Friday. Thursday is meant to be spent with your family, and now that they have stores opening at, like, six o’clock, that’s ridiculous.”

 

 

 

 

 

Gayla Richmond, 18, Peoria

“I work at 4:30 in the morning on Black Friday, so it should be interesting but sometimes it gets a little chaotic. I think it is good because some people who can’t really afford the things that they need at the regular prices get the chance to be able to afford them as long as they get out early enough, but some people kind of go overboard with it. Overall, though, it’s good thing.”

 

 

 

 

 

Austin McDaniel, 21, Peoria

“I used to work at JCPenney and I worked Black Friday in 2012, and we opened at 6:00 a.m., which was earlier than we normally opened but it was still late in the game. I feel that opening on Thanksgiving for Black Friday is not ideal. It’s supposed to be time that you spend with family instead of trampling everyone else to get a deal on something that you may or may not need. So I understand why businesses do it, but I don’t agree with it.”