JAMES ANDERSON / Scroll
Early-morning shoppers line up in front of Wal-Mart in Rexburg Friday morning.

While not the biggest shopping day annually (that honor goes to the Saturday before Christmas), Black Friday is still considered by many retailers to be the major shopping holiday of the year.

The name comes from the massive volume of sales that push stores ‘into the black’, meaning that, rather than carrying debt, as most stores do for much of the year, they have turned a profit. Sales for the remainder of the holiday season continue to push profits forward.

With most people having the day off work as vacation, and the passing of Thanksgiving reminding them of a fast approaching Christmas holiday, shoppers flock to stores to do their Christmas shopping.

Kirsten Fairmont, a shopper from Idaho Falls, said, “I’d like to get all of my Christmas shopping done today.”

Retailers, looking to cash in on this massive influx of buyers, have made this day a shopping holiday of epic proportions, announcing steep discounts, launching new campaigns and releasing the latest products.

“It’s a great sales day, it’s a great way to kick off the holiday season,” said Lee Andersen, sales floor manager for the Idaho Falls/Ammon Target store. “For those two reasons it’s the most important day of the year for us.”

It was a big day for shoppers, too. Outside many stores, customers camped out over night, and others arrived before the sun rose, all to take advantage of ‘Door Buster’ sales, offered to the first arrivals at the store.

“The crowds are big, the store is packed and there’s a great energy here,” Andersen said. Not everyone likes the large numbers of people, though.

NICK WALKER / Scroll
Customers makes their way through the cash register lines at Target in Spokane, Wash.

Melodee Steiner, a local resident who works as a cashier at the BYU-Idaho Bookstore, said, “They had some specials where if they had them, great, if not, I could live without them.”

Deep discounts and specials offered by several major retailers only add to the shopping rush, bringing many customers out that wouldn’t otherwise go shopping. “Normally, I’d avoid all these crowds,” said Fairmont, “but there were some deals I just couldn’t pass up.”

An added benefit for students is that, in order to compensate for the Christmas rush, many stores are hiring for temporary positions, just for the season. “We hire seasonal employment; we’re hiring right now actually,” Andersen said.

Cashiers, customer service employees and others are all in higher demand during this time of year when stores are busiest and employees are leaving for the holidays.