Category: Features

By Mason Sandoval

It seems the Christmas season starts earlier and earlier every year. It’s gotten to the point where Christmas time literally starts the day after Thanksgiving. As soon as the doors open at a Target or a Walmart, it becomes “every man for himself.” Many have compared it to the stampede from “The Lion King” or “The Hunger Games.”

Theft and violence are everywhere during Black Friday; this can be anything from ripping the tag off of a shirt and then putting it on your bag or shoving someone out of the way to get the last toy on the shelf for your kid to running out the door with a new flat screen TV and knocking out the security guard trying to stop you. Most cases are worse than the latter.

The states with the most crime during Black Friday are Nevada, Louisiana, Alabama, Arkansas and Tennessee. Crime isn’t exclusive to just these states on Black Friday however. It’s just the most frequent.

Most people think that most theft on Black Friday happens in the store but it’s actually the opposite. While it is worth noting that there is a two percent increase in theft in stores during Black Friday, there is a 28% increase in home burglaries while everyone is at the store as well as an increase in car break ins in the unattended cars in the parking lots. In addition to theft violence is also increased a great deal on Black Friday.

Most violence consists of trampling on others while rushing into the store as the doors open, but this can get deadly.

According to a West Virginian news station, years ago Walter Vance was shopping at a West Virginian Target for Black Friday when he collapsed. The 61 year-old pharmacist had already been dealing with a heart condition, but the chaos of Black Friday didn’t help. When he fell to the ground countless customers did absolutely nothing. In fact, they walked around him on their way to find bargains. Vance was brought to the hospital later, where he died.

Another incident occurred in Long Beach, Calif. According to the Press-Telegram in 2008 a stampede broke out as soon as the doors opened to a Walmart and a woman who was eight months pregnant was knocked over and trampled on, the trampling resulted in the woman’s unfortunate miscarriage.

Even hate crimes occur on Black Friday. One occurred in Jackson, Tennessee in 2012. According to the Jackson Sun, Black Friday was brutal for a woman named Akasha Adonis. The transgender woman and her mom were assaulted by other shoppers as soon as store personnel unlocked the doors to a Kohl’s Department Store. Adonis and her mother were hit by an assailant who pulled out her hair. Most disgustingly, the suspect put his hand in her mouth and tore three teeth out of her gums, breaking her jaw. As Adonis laid on the floor, Kohl’s staff greeted other shoppers until a woman called the cops.

So then what’s a safer alternative to Black Friday? Well, there’s always Cyber Monday where you can find similar deals online on websites like Ebay or Amazon. You could always wait until December to do your Christmas shopping. Lucky for us California is one of the safer states to shop in during Black Friday. However California doesn’t rank in the top ten safest states to shop in so stay safe folks!

By Mansi Patel

Pushing, shoving, scampering and scrambling isn’t the first thing that comes into mind when thinking of Black Friday. Black Friday is known as the biggest shopping event of the year, with millions of people coming out to shop in stores or staying in the comfort of their homes and shopping online. Over the years, with a rising population in the US, there have also been more shoppers and an increase in sales in stores nationwide.

Throughout the years, shopping in stores has become less and less popular, and staying at home in the comfort of your bed and not having to wait in long lines has become more popular. According to CNNMoney, there was a two percent decrease in in-store traffic on both Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday compared to the previous year. This is probably due to how easy of an access shopping online has become for younger generations. According to the National Retail Federation, approximately 51.6 million people went to shop in stores, 58.4 million people shopped online and 64.6 million people shopped both online and in stores on Black Friday.

Over the last few years, more people are buying items ranging from jewelry to Instant Pot to Amazon Echo Dot. According to Adobe Systems Inc., online sales in 2017 rose by a shocking 18% that year alone, resulting in the total sales to be a whopping $7.9 billion between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday. Adobe also claimed that mobiles accounted for about 47.4% of all online shopping traffic in the U.S. in 2017. That is approximately a 39% increase from the previous year. According to the National Retail Federation, they suspect that sales will increase another 4.1 percent this year. Overall, every year there has been an increase in sales on Black Friday except in 2008 due to the financial crisis.

Last year, according to Amazon, their top-selling items were the Amazon Echo Dot, the Fire TV Stick with Alexa voice remote, the TP-Link smart plug, the Instant Pot DUO80 8-quart seven-in-one multiuse programmable pressure cooker and the 23andMe DNA test.

Americans aren’t the only ones celebrating Black Friday and Cyber Monday. According to research for discount shopping site vouchercodes.co.uk carried out by the Centre for Retail Research, shoppers in the UK spent approximately £7.8 billion between Black Friday and Cyber Monday in 2017. Right behind is Germany which spent £5.7 billion online and in-store, and France which spent £4.7 billion.

With Black Friday coming around the corner, sales are expected to increase, specifically those online. On Fri., Nov. 23, take this once-in-a-year opportunity to go out or stay at home and get some shopping done for the season!