Black Friday Observation

Observation Paper: Black Friday Shopping The notorious Black Friday Shopping; an American tradition that grows larger with each passing year. It occurs annually on the Friday following Thanksgiving Thursday; this year being Friday, November 25, 2011. Shopping bargains are advertised approximately a week prior both online and in print. Hundreds of people map out their plans of action and line up outside of the stores hours before their opening. Normally, I would be one of those savvy shoppers but this year I sat back and observed. I observed the formation of the line and the behaviors of shoppers in that line outside of Target. Target was scheduled to open even earlier this year than last; at midnight as opposed to six a.m. I arrived at Target a little after eight o’clock and there was only twenty-four people, not including myself, that were outside waiting. About an hour later at 9:15 p.m. the line had more than doubled to fifty-seven shoppers. Finally, at approximately 10:30 p.m. the line began to reach upwards of 200 people. To keep track of the number of shoppers after that became next to impossible. Upon arrival, one would join the line and just wait. My first observation was that there did not seem to be a single person that came alone; everyone came in groups. As the line grew the number of Target security guards and police officers increased noticeably as well. Throughout my entire time in line there were seldom any children; those few that were present looked to be no younger than at least ten years of age. The shoppers came prepared to say the least. The items that were brought along came as a surprise to me. The most common item that found its way into the line along side the people was the chair. The chairs were typically lawn chairs or portable beach chairs but amazingly some people brought their office chairs. Chairs themselves are an