CLINTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. — The Thanksgiving holiday is followed by another unofficial holiday for all retail lovers - Black Friday. However, gone are the days of crowd-pushing mayhem and camping out for hours on Thanksgiving with many local stores not opening up until the morning hours of Black Friday.
This year many national retailers like Walmart, Target, and Best Buy remained closed on Thanksgiving. Local malls also closed up shop for the holiday, giving employees the days off. Come Friday morning, though, shoppers should be out in full force.
Millions of shoppers are expected to flood stores and malls despite economists noting inflation. According to a Deloitte report,consumers plan to spend an average of $567 dollars this Black Friday and Cyber Monday, which would be an increase of 13% from last year.
Some stores still remained open on Thanksgiving like Big Lots and Dollar General, letting families pick up some last minute goods.
“We wanted to get some games to play with the kiddos," shopper Georgia Balaj said. We’ve got a couple kids at the house so you know keep them occupied during Thanksgiving."
But not everyone is happy with the limited shopping options on the Thanksgiving holiday.
“One of my favorite activities is going out on Black Friday shopping with my mom when I come home and this is all we got," Mackenzie Robertson said, referring to the Big Lots on 23 Mile and Van Dyke. "A couple more options would be nice.”
Robertson used to work on Black Friday at the Big Lots she visited on Thanksgiving and hopes shoppers hit the stores Friday with patience and compassion towards workers.
"It’s super important just for everyone to remember these are real people, you are affecting their day," Robertson said. "You need to be kind to them in public because that is a real person with real problems. It’s not a robot checking out your groceries."
Check your local mall hours for Black Friday shopping times. Small Business Saturday is this weekend, and Cyber Monday a few days after that.
