Another holiday enters the scene

It certainly doesn’t sound like a holiday. And it really doesn’t fit the traditional description of a holiday. But it’s a relatively new observance that definitely has a monetary impact on the nation’s economy.

So we have to admit that Black Friday, that mother of all shopping days that is observed the day after Thanksgiving, seems to be finding a comfortable place in the national fabric.

It was created by retailers with the idea that it could be of mutual benefit to businesses and buyers alike. And it appears to have worked.

Millions of shoppers hoping to latch onto bargains shook out of their Thanksgiving stupor to gather in droves at stores advertising dramatic specials for those willing to sacrifice some sleep to save some Christmas season bucks.
Newspapers, such as this one, were crammed with advertisements on Thursday so the intrepid shoppers could get a plan of attack together. Heck, it’s become such a big deal that some of the Black Friday ads placed by big national chains were “leaked” a couple of weeks in advance. And, naturally, that information spread quickly via the Internet.

The name of the day is sort of generic, since it’s supposedly the time that retailers can get a surge of business that puts them out of red ink and into the black, profit-wise, for the year. And, of course, the shopping frenzy actually extends through the rest of the weekend since a lot of the shoppers have a four-day break from work due to Turkey Day.

To be certain, it’s a contrived holiday (if you want to use that word). But a lot of other observances such as Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day fit the same description. They, too, were created, aside from the sentimental factors, to provide a bounty to merchants.

So you can take or leave the observance and call it what you want. It’s real and it’s not likely to go away.