Walmart is stretching 'Black Friday' into a weeklong event

Walmart is stretching 'Black Friday' into a weeklong event
(Image credit: Carlo Allegri/Getty Images)

The Friday after Thanksgiving used to be the unofficial start of the Christmas shopping season — the "black" in Black Friday refers to the day that retailers start turning a profit or the mourning of their employees. Then it was Thursday night, then Thursday morning. Well, Walmart is threatening to stretch the idea of Friday beyond recognition, turning the sale into a weeklong affair

The sale starts with online-only specials Thanksgiving morning, continues in-store starting a 6 p.m., and lasting through "Cyber Monday." Walmart says that part of the purpose is to decrease the pressure on shoppers and stores, though it also says it is offering different "door-buster" sales each day. "It used to be called Black Friday, then it became Thursday, now it’s a week long," Walmart U.S. chief merchant Duncan Mac Naughton tells The Wall Street Journal. "Maybe we should just call it November."

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Peter Weber

Peter Weber is a senior editor at TheWeek.com, and has handled the editorial night shift since the website launched in 2008. A graduate of Northwestern University, Peter has worked at Facts on File and The New York Times Magazine. He speaks Spanish and Italian and plays bass and rhythm cello in an Austin rock band. Follow him on Twitter.