November 27th, 2015 is the day stores will open extremely early, and the mad rush of people fighting for the best bargains will begin. Over the past few decades, Black Friday has turned into a very large event with hundreds of thousands of people lining up early the morning after Thanksgiving.

Black Friday was the name the Philadelphia Police Department, in 1996, had given to the Friday that followed Thanksgiving. To the police, the name Black Friday meant crowded streets, mobbed stores, and traffic jams. Back in the 60s, accounting records were written by hand, with different colored ink. When red ink was used it, meant that there was a loss in profit. When they used black ink, it indicated profit. This is where the “black” part of the name “Black Friday” comes from.      

Retailers started to noticed that they could take advantage of the situation by discounting their prices to draw in crowds. Every kind of item was discounted — from popular toys to home furniturings and apparel. Now, Black Friday has become a very large and popular event throughout the entire country. About 135 million people go Black Friday shopping every year, and that number is still rising. In 2010, an estimated $45 billion was spent in total on Black Friday, with each shopper spending an average of $350.

With the large amounts of people on the streets during Black Friday, many accidents tend to occur. People shove, and run over other shoppers to get great deals on all kinds of items. At big name stores more severe experiences happen, the worst being several deaths of employees as well as shoppers.

“We never go shopping on Black Friday because it’s too crowded at stores, and there is nothing we really need,” said 8th grader Grace Castillino. The crowds are a big part of why some people go Black Friday shopping online, rather than going out and shopping. Black Friday has both a positive and negative side to it. It’s hard to get those door buster deals without winning a fight between other shoppers.