Black Friday or so it used to be… Now days Black Friday is beginning to creep into Thanksgiving dinners for the first time ever for some stores. Not only will Black Friday creep into Thursday night most stores will host specials and sales all weekend, diminishing the day Friday.

The true definition of Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving, noted as the first day of traditional Christmas shopping, during which crowds of consumers are drawn to special offers by retailers.

With Thanksgiving falling on November 28, later than most years by 6 days,  and consumer budgets expected to be tight most stores participating in Black Friday sales will move there opening time in hopes to capture the sales.

As Black Friday approaches many stores have announced the deals and times at which they will open. Most stores are beginning there deals around 8 pm on Thanksgiving night. Stores have begun to open their stores earlier and earlier as each Friday progresses.

Gap, Old Navy and Macy’s  will open their doors at 8 pm Thanksgiving night.

“I think starting Black Friday earlier takes away from the family time of Thanksgiving,” senior Ellie Willson said.

Popular chain retailers like Target, Walmart and Best Buy will open their doors early this year. Target will open at 8 pm Thanksgiving night while Wal-Mart and Best Buy will open at 6 pm Thanksgiving night  and will continue with doorbusters and deals all weekend long.

Target just recently released there 37 page Black Friday ad with many doorbusters, for consumers to plan out their Black Friday excursions.

If the math is done correctly on average most of these stores mentioned above will be open for a total of 41 hours.

In opening stores earlier retailers are looking to squeeze more out of the hugely profitable holiday shopping season, especially this year, with a late Thanksgiving.

According to USA today “holiday shoppers are expected to spend about 3.9% more this year than they did last year.”

This years hot items will contain the usual TV’s, and computers as well as home essentials like the coffee brewer, Keurig. The new Playstation 4 will draw consumers as it was just released and Apple technology including the iPad air and the new iPhones including the iPhone 5c and 5s will be popular according to Amazon .

“I start planning my Black Friday towards the end of October, and bring all the coupons with me Thanksgiving dinner so I can plan my shopping,” junior Lizzy Kroll said.

It is estimated that 226 million people went Black Friday shopping in 2012 and it is estimated that this year, 2013, this number will grow exponentially.

Black Friday will take place Friday November, 29th and for those who choose to shop online cyber Monday will take place Monday December 2nd.

Cyber Monday is a marketing term for the Monday after Thanksgiving in the United States. The term “Cyber Monday” was created by marketing companies to persuade people to shop online.

Tori Palm is the News Editor for The Spartan Speaks