Holiday Shopping Trends

Dakota Polk, dp220@uakron.edu

Ke’Ila Frazier, kkf20@uakron.edu

Oftentimes, you hear people talk about how prices are too expensive, and they miss when there was enthusiasm in the air. Now we’re sure you probably don’t understand where we’re going with this, but you’ll soon find out what we mean…let’s take a stroll down memory lane! It’s Thanksgiving break, people are eager to see their families, eat good food, and buy a plethora of items on Black Friday. Stores would have sales going as high as 80%. You could even get multiple electronic devices for the price of one. People from all over would come and sit outside stores until they opened, just to be first in line, and  get all the good items for a cheap price. However, nothing good can stay. After the pandemic, the hype of Black Friday started to fade because stores stopped providing these amazing discounts. Some theorists say COVID ruined it, it’s due to inflation, the stores want to make all the money they can, and others say online shopping ruined the purpose of Black Friday. 

Ultimately, deals are no longer what they used to be. Now all we get are lousy ¨BUY ONE AND GET ONE FREE¨. Discounts on Black Friday used to be big and only really available on Black Friday. Now, “sales” are the same as typical discounts that are available throughout the year. Some stores have even marked prices up purposely and then put a sale on it just to make it seem as if they are marked down. Also, the shift to online shopping has played a role in it as well. It has caused Black Friday to lose its “special” feeling. Items also used to be higher quality and no longer are. It’s like the quality has lessened and the prices only increased. Black Friday used to feel like an exciting holiday but now feels like nothing but a scheme to trick people out of their money.