Do you have any memories of Black Friday shopping growing up?

[smahala1991]

For Non American peeps, Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving when stores open early and offer sales all day. It used to be a big deal in the US until online shopping and Cyber Monday came around.

[Purpleronnie]

From memory it was only last decade that “Black Friday” came to the UK and only popularized by American owned retailers. But the term I think was coined by police officers in america that had to work overtime to deal with the “thanksgiving” shoppers because of the sales and first come first served and limited supply offerings that apparently caused some sort of mass hysteria. Seen videos of hordes defending on stores to save a few bucks buying crap they don’t need … does make me laugh 😂


So no , I have no memories growing up with Black Friday as I was already fully grown when the bullshit marketing campaigns started

[DishLady]

No. We didn’t do Black Friday bc we always traveled to family for the holiday. Mom and uncles would perhaps step out to a mall on their own for an hour or two, but as kids we weren’t dragged into it. We grew up believing in Christmas Magic and valuing the time with family more than time in the shops.


ONCE my kids asked me to take them to a particular shop on Black Friday and we tried it. I held them close and told them no matter what not to step away from me bc people can get crazy… and if someone wants whatever they’re holding, let them have it. Nothing is worth a fight with a crazy person.


VERY chaotic and I can’t say that we got anything worth the effort when we could all have been snug and cozy playing board games together at home. We never did “Black Friday” again.

[Anonymous]

Yes. I remember one year my mom got up early to go stand in line outside a store for video games for us when we were kids. Then it turned out they never had them so it was for nothing. . . She did the same for something else another year, then they actually had them and ahe got them very cheap. I’m from Sweden by the way, black Friday isn’t just in the US. Nowadays black Friday sucks though. It’s basically black month and they raise the prices in September/October to lower them back to normal, to even higher than normal, in November to be able to claim sale. And actual sales are like 10-20%. It’s nothing special. Companies run those sales often throughout the year. Some stores have better prices on cyber Monday, but in general black Friday isn’t worth it anymore.

[Summeroflove]

Today I was impressed. I went to my local mall and bass pro…. They opened at 6 and the lines were a mile long. People aren’t as big of babies anymore as people were during and after COVID. It’s weird because I always used to bitch…. The me in and before 2019 is different now…. I now enjoy seeing human interaction and people going to stores to shop.

[WindAtMyBack]

There wasn't any such thing as Black Friday when I grew up. I don't remember when they started that, but I think it was probably the late 80s or early 90s. I had never heard the term before, then suddenly it was everywhere.

Stores are not nearly as crowded as they used to be during Christmas season. People started buying earlier and earlier in the year to avoid the crowds. Then people started buying online. The stores used to be shoulder to shoulder people.

I think there are also probably a lot more stores per capita than there used to be. There were no malls when I was a kid. So a lot more people went downtown to shop. There were shopping centers also, but overall not as many stores as now.

[Unycorn]

Look at amazon black Friday - I don't use.

People buy lot of stuff they don't really need... and only little things are really needed. Give the online stores too much power and we will lose our local shops. That is not good.

Everything balanced is best. Live and let live. I use both and if I pay more money in a local store it is ok, if it is a seller and not a big brand. I support local stores because we all need it!

We don't want the big brands - when 3-4 are left - telling us the prices.

[DrPepper12]

Battling adults for cabbage patch kid dolls 1983. Older relatives sent us kids in cuz we could gain sympathetic response ("it's for my baby sister!") & the theory was no adult would get aggressive with kids. They were right about one of those premises.

Uncle Paul was the best. He said swing back, no mercy! Miss that mofo.

[art84]

My mom, me dad and brother went to Best Buy back in 2007 to get a DS Lite for $129. Line was around the block like 500 people. Ended up going to Target where we got our DS Lite for $99 and a game so $130. That's the last time we did Black Friday until my nephews were 3 and 5 years old.

[msc545]

No, I think Black Friday is something dreamed up fairly recently by merchants to try and push their goods off on people. Many of the Black Friday sales involve raising the prices on things for the few weeks before Black Friday and then lowering them back down to what they were before as if that was saving somebody some money. It obviously is not. It's just another day when people can be scammed.

[Rei13]

No we never did it, my first real experience was working it as an adult and that was a nightmare

[RandomGirl42]

Yes. I have memories of my mom and grammie and older sisters all saying how absolutely dumb that all was and we were staying home.

[exitseven]

When my kids were little I remember going to the big box stores on Black Friday and duking it out with the rest of the crowd.

[XXblack88]

Just what showed up on the news. My parents didn't do black Friday

[AviatorTom]

When I was growing up, there was no Black Friday. Stores had reasonable and fair prices all year long.

[Chocolatetwopoint3]

Well what a shirt cost today would probably cost a rock back when you were growing up

[Staximus]

My parents never went shopping on "black Friday", it didn't start becoming a thing in Southern California until the late 90's

[douride2]

Growing up I had never heard of black Friday.

[warlock83]

I never went out very early in the morning, but I remember the Tickle Me Elmo videos on the news. Friggin people were raging as if the last portion of food was on sale for the week.

[CaptainSmartass]

It's only come here in recent years.

Simples...

[ABC1x1x]

No. I have never gone shopping g on black Friday. Avoid it like the plague

[inhahe]

Yeah I just remembered that by the time we'd get to the stores all the good (i. e., extremely discounted) stuff would be taken.

[Miristheiss]

No, I have always stayed away from that.

[Chocolatetwopoint3]

do you seriously only think usa has black Friday?

[Anonymous]

Nope, we didn't have that in our country.

[Anonymous]

Dating hot black guys i guess

[Northstar84]

No, my mom shunned America style shopping trends

[boundless]

Nope.

[LiamJHayden]

Not really.