Leave deals for Black Friday

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Rosie Ecker

It’s been a tradition for my sister, mom and me to fully partake in Black Friday every year. Watching my sister tear through the advertisements on Thursday morning is just part of what Thanksgiving is for me.

We make a list of all the places we need to go, organizing times and the greatest deals before we hit the road the next morning.

While there are some hot ticket items we’ve purchased in the past, we are usually just there to say we were a part of the madness that is Black Friday.

Black Friday used to start early morning the day after Thanksgiving, where concerned consumers would roll out of bed, start a pot of coffee, layer up in warm clothing and stand outside Target, Wal-Mart or Macy’s to get the first deals, no matter the weather, temperature or their level of tiredness.

The deals once started at 6 a.m. so we would get in line at 5 a.m. Then the next year they started at 4 a.m. and we had to get in line at 3 a.m. Eventually the deals started at midnight so we just wouldn’t go to bed and would wait up instead.

Now, the deals have cut into actual Thanksgiving and it has become an issue.

Last year, as I’m sitting at the table reminiscing with my family, bellies full of turkey, my sister said we had to cut the dinner short to go catch the first deals at Target.

As much fun as shopping with them on Black Friday is, I was sad that time with my whole family was cut short, and it wasn’t cut short for an issue or other pressing reason. It was cut short because Target decided its deals were going to start at 9 p.m. that evening.

Are the deals at Target so crucial that time with family is shortened? Not to mention all of those employees who probably didn’t even get the chance to sit down with their family in the first place.

REI didn’t participate in Black Friday last year and instead wanted people to “Opt Outside.” Maybe this is the movement America needs — not crazier deals from big chain stores — to truly understand the reason for Thanksgiving and appreciating what we already have in life.

The Lexington Fayette Mall will be closed all of Thanksgiving, with the exception of the department stores located on the outside of the mall.

While this change may not affect many, it is certainly a positive step for Lexington. Small steps like this one can positively affect the tradition that Black Friday has become.

Let’s either opt outside like REI demonstrated, or wake up refreshed on Friday morning ready to take on those sales like it was before.

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