Black Friday? That sounds scary. Millions brave the crowds the Friday after Thanksgiving to start their Christmas shopping looking for big savings. It turns out it isn’t an official US holiday but if you’re not in retail you probably have the day off. If you are in retail I wish you all the serenity and coffee you need. I had wondered where such a dark name came from, it sounds so ominous to me! But in reality it just comes from accounting, losses were recorded in red ink while black ink represented a profit. Electronics, toys, clothing, home furnishing, just about anything you can think of will have big discounts on Black Friday.

More recently the day after Black Friday is getting some hype, Small Business Saturday! Starting in 2010 this day promotes supporting small and local businesses. Just a year later the day became official in 2011. By 2014 American Express had become a huge supporter of this day and do free ads for local businesses. Local businesses today are being very supported on this day and it looks like that support will only continue to grow!

With such a crazy shopping weekend after Thanksgiving my personal favorite is Cyber Monday.  That is where you’ll find me! Starting back in 2005 this seems like a great way to avoid the traffic, crowds, cold, and all the hassle for items that may be out of stock by the time you get to them, eek. A lot of Cyber Monday shopping can actually begin on Sunday so you don’t even have to miss a beat if you’re going to be shopping all three of these events next weekend!

 

Shopping Image Source: http://www.swire-mt.com/

Submitted by Syd Miles