Black Friday, falling the day after Thanksgiving, garners less enthusiasm from shoppers than it has in previous years. Research conducted by Statista reveals that in 2023, about 50% of people surveyed planned to start their holiday shopping before Black Friday, while in 2021 only 45% of people planned on starting their holiday shopping before November. Sophomore Noley Hall said she has noticed a lot fewer people going out to shop on Black Friday.

“My family used to go a lot, and now we don’t really go anymore,” Hall said. “I think online shopping kind of took over, and a lot of people just got deals from pre-Black Friday sales.”

She said Black Friday isn’t the same as it used to be, although she said she has still noticed stores trying to offer sales on Black Friday. She also said she thinks stores could do better with offering better prices on Black Friday.

“They should (offer sales) more in-store than online,” she said.

Business teacher Merrick McGraw said he remembers his family getting really excited and doing all of their Christmas shopping on Black Friday.

“I’m not even sure that they go out on Black Friday anymore,” McGraw said. “I certainly have not in the past years.”

He said he attributes the lack of enthusiasm toward Black Friday to online shopping as well.

“People don’t have to leave their couch to buy things for people for Christmas anymore,” he said.

He also said Amazon has had a big impact on Black Friday because of its continuous deals going on all the time.

“People don’t have to wait for Black Friday to get deals; there’s deals on (Amazon) every day,” he said, “and I think the deals that people used to get on Black Friday have now extended past Black Friday. You have deals on Black Friday, certainly, but there’s holiday deals almost throughout the whole season (and) on Cyber Monday.”

He said if stores offered deals that were too good to pass up, only available on Black Friday, they would generate more interest.

Sophomore Belle Davis said she’s disappointed in the deficiency of “hype” toward Black Friday.

“It’s very sad for me that I will never see a time where you’re really lining up at the store as soon as Thanksgiving dinner is over,” she said. “I just feel like I’m missing out on such a pivotal American experience.”

She said she thinks online shopping has taken the magic out of things like Black Friday. She said the online version of Black Friday, Cyber Monday, has become the whole weekend to her, and she said there doesn’t seem to be a difference between Cyber Monday and Black Friday anymore.

Davis said she plans on going Black Friday shopping with some friends, but she doesn’t really know anyone else shopping that day.

“I feel like we all as a society need to bring (Black Friday) back, and bring back that fun day together,” she said. “I’d like to see a fight over a TV, that’s something that I’ve never gotten to witness, and it’s something… I’d love to see (on Black Friday).”

McGraw said he thinks Black Friday is going to stick around, but it’ll be a different version of the holiday than it has been in the past.

“The deals haven’t gone away, but you can get it online or you can get it in the store,” he said. “I don’t think Black Friday will ever go away, I think it’s a great way for stores to get people to purchase things because everyone knows what Black Friday is, but I think it’s just going to be different moving forward… where people are just more inclined to get on their phone or computer and get the same deals they could get in-store without having to leave their home.”