Students traveled to local malls and shopping centers on “Black Friday, November 25, marking the beginning of the winter holiday consumer season.
People ventured out as early as midnight on Thanksgiving evening to purchase items on sale. Often, they ended up in crowded stores filled with long lines of determined shoppers.
Senior David Curl went Black Friday shopping with friends. “We wanted to see how crazy people get,” he explained.
Curl left his house at 11:30 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day and returned at 7:30 a.m. the following day. He said, “Midnight was really crazy, but it slowed down at around four in the morning.”
Freshman Maddy Ahr went shopping with her close friend and Emma Price in downtown Walnut Creek. They left their house at midnight and returned home at 3:30 a.m. Ahr said, “We wanted to get good deals on clothing items. There was hardly anyone there and no good items at stores.”
Ahr and Price visited Nordstrom, Lucky Brand Jeans, Sephora, and Betsey Johnson. Most major retailers used this day for promotional sales to bring in customers and encourage them to buy holiday gifts for friends or family.