THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Black Friday is being billed more than ever as the most important day of the year for the US economy, a carnival of consumerism in which Americans are expected to shop their way out of the country's financial woe.
Some 152 million people – almost half the population – are due to pass through checkouts carrying heavily discounted products, spending upwards of $50 billion (£31 billion), according a survey by the National Retail Federation (NRF).
Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, traditionally marked the moment retailers moved into profit, or "the black". Latterly it has been when consumers queued for hours in the cold to dash around shops, fighting over the latest half-price LCD widescreen televisions.
But amid the highest poverty rate for 28 years, sluggish economic growth and a headline unemployment rate of nine per cent that still grossly under-represents the painful extent of joblessness around the country, some Americans say they have had enough.
A backlash has struck leading retailers such as Best Buy, Macy's and Target which, in a parallel annual ritual, decided that they could not wait and must open their doors at 10pm on Thursday night. Toys R Us is going one better, welcoming customers at 9pm.
"Many holiday shoppers would rather stay up all night to take advantage of retailers' Black Friday deals than set their alarm to wake up the next morning," said the NRF president, Matthew Shay, in a statement critics dismissed as mindless. » | Jon Swaine, Washington | Thursday, November 24, 2011
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THE GUARDIAN: What is Black Friday? : The discount shopping day follows Thanksgiving and is expected to lure millions of US shoppers ¶ Black Friday is the traditional start to the Christmas shopping season in the US. It falls the day after the country's Thanksgiving celebration and has become a discount shopping day when millions of US shoppers are lured by massive savings. This year it falls on Friday 25 November and some stores in the US are even opening at 4am to tempt bargain hunters. » | Mark King | Friday, November 25, 2011
