Right up there next to the major holidays — Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter — Black Friday shopping has become a huge event for which much preparation is needed.

For years fanatic shoppers looking for the best deals on gifts for the holiday season have gone to great lengths to ensure that the laptop, digital camera or television that is surely destined to be wrapped up under the Christmas tree was purchased for the lowest possible price.

For those who may not understand the concept of Black Friday shopping, it falls on the day following Thanksgiving and is unofficially the commencement of the Christmas shopping season. Essentially it is the busiest shopping day of the year.

Antonette Claar, a junior nursing major at Gannon University, agrees that Black Friday is the busiest shopping day of the year. “Working in retail, I usually work early in the morning every Black Friday,” Claar said. “With that being said, I never get the chance to go shopping on that day, but if I had the chance, I’m not sure that I would. It gets pretty ugly. People fight over stuff, and they get snippy with employees who are just trying to do their job and make it through the day without collapsing.”

So some may be wondering why Black Friday shopping is such a big deal. Is it really worth it to wake up before the sun rises in order to get a few dollars knocked off the price of random objects that aren’t needed and probably won’t be used?

Some will answer no, it’s not worth it. Rachel Litwin, junior business administration major, said she never goes shopping on Black Friday.

“Stores are overcrowded, and people are mean,”  Litwin said. “I don’t see any point in waking up at extreme hours of the morning to deal with that kind of chaos — especially when there is no real guarantee I will even find any deals. Most of the time, people plan out what they are going to buy and the product is sold out. I just don’t really think it’s worth the trouble.”

Although Black Friday shopping has the connotation of danger and chaos, a multitude of people still rise at an unsightly hour and prepare for the day with coffee as their ammo.

Megan Ohr, a junior occupational therapy major, said that she looks forward to Black Friday shopping every Thanksgiving Break. She said that she willingly wakes up at 4 a.m. and heads to the mall to wait for stores to open.

“I don’t ever check the sales ads or plan out what I’m buying in the days beforehand,” Ohr said. “Usually I just go and see what I can find.”

Another student, junior nursing major Clarissa Garay, said that she peruses the ads and sees what she can find on sale for Black Friday.

“I’m a big crafter, so I usually look at stores like JoAnn Fabrics or Michael’s so that I can find good deals on scrapbooking equipment or other crafting supplies,” Garay said. “In the past, I’ve done well and haven’t had any problems, so until then, I will keep shopping.”

So after a day full of merry thanks and hefty eating, several Gannon students will stock up on sleep in preparation for an early rising to fight the crowds lined up at the shopping destinations that advertised the best deals for the day. Others will spend the day at home resting and recuperating from a turkey-filled Thanksgiving.

DIANE CASSARLY

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