In 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt  announced that Thanksgiving will be celebrated the fourth Thursday of every November. The day of thanks is often celebrated in America with food, family and football. In recent years, the day after Thanksgiving, Black Friday, has become a bigger tradition to some people than Thanksgiving itself. Every year since 2005, Black Friday has been America’s busiest shopping day of the year. The long lines and rushing of crowds is often considered the “official” start of the Christmas season.

    Big retailers spend the weeks and months approaching Thanksgiving weekend announcing and leaking the competing, once-a-year deals that they will be offering on Black Friday. While many people believe the day is a great boost to business and the American economy, many others believe it takes away from the spirit of Thanksgiving.

    While most non-retail workers and students get the weekend off of work and school, the stores who open up at 12 A.M. on Friday morning need people to set up and sell their products. This often leads to many unhappy workers who are unable to spend the holiday with their families. Many stores even take the deals up a notch and offer them as early as 4 P.M. on Thanksgiving Day.

    This causes a predicament in the morals of many Americans. Should stores take advantage of the business and make the most money on a single day that they will all year, or should they respect the tradition and customs of many people to spend the day of thanks with family.

     In the past, almost every big name retailer was open on Black Friday. But this year, in 2015, many stores are taking on the new trend of giving the day off to their workers. With the emergence of Cyber Monday, the Monday following Thanksgiving where many stores have big deals online, retailers figure they can afford to take the holiday and following day off. Big stores including Cabela’s, Gamestop, and Nordstrom top the list of stores taking the day off. It is expected that this trend will rise in popularity in the coming years.