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The Daily Tar Heel

Word on the Street: Do you go Black Friday shopping?

Katie Holt (left) Sydney Davis (middle) Mary Wardrop (right)

As students begin to travel home, Thanksgiving break marks the start of several time-honored holiday traditions.

College students around the country will find themselves pigging out on Mamaw’s famous creamed corn, exploring unknown coat closets to hide from creepy Uncle Steve and his slightly racist jokes and, most importantly, setting up camp outside malls for a minimum of three hours before they open to prey on innocent cashiers and Black Friday’s best bargains.

This year, my family is revolutionizing the Thanksgiving dinner. 

Starting at 2 p.m. Thanksgiving Day, the Goins family is setting up camp in the mall parking lot with a spread so massive it would put an NFL tailgate to shame. We’ll be locked and loaded on the frontlines, ready to storm the gates of Belk and guarantee ourselves the biggest savings. 

Nothing says Thanksgiving quite like trampling a crowd and ripping a pair of 50 percent off boots from the wrinkly grasp of a grandmother as you watch her sink to the bottom of the human pyramid. Only the strong survive. 

But do UNC students have the same cutthroat mentality as my family when it comes to Black Friday?

First-year Katie Holt (left)

Chemistry major

“No, never. I’m scared of crowds, and I don’t want to die. I’ve heard horror stories of people getting shot over like a pair of socks. I think I might try this year, but I’ll go during the day or in the morning, though.”

First-year Sydney Davis (middle)

Undecided

“I normally go during the day. I’ve been at night one time and it was awful. I just went to Abercrombie and waited in line for like three hours. I’d never been before so I just wanted to go and try it out. This was like five years ago and I really had no idea what was going on.”

First-year Mary Wardrop (right)

Biology major

“I’ve been one time when I was a junior in high school. We didn’t go at night, we went during the day. But the mall didn’t open until 10, because it was in Pittsboro, so it was a really small place. But there were so many people there it was kind of scary. I didn’t buy anything, but my friend got a shirt and he was like grabbing for it and another lady tried to reach it. He didn’t fight her over it, but it was weird and kind of scary.”

Senior Cheyenne Mcneill

Broadcast journalism major

“I went on the night of Thanksgiving like five years ago to the mall to get some boots. We bought some, but it was so crazy that we left them in the store because we were rushing out. We paid for them and then we stopped to look around some more, and then we accidentally left them, so I didn’t end up with them. They were on sale, so at least they were really cheap. It’s too wild and crazy for me, I don’t like it. I like Cyber Monday."

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Senior Jack Joyce

Strategic communications major

“I’ve never been Black Friday shopping. The whole thing is just very commercialized and I feel like it goes into how Christmas is commercial now, and it’s just crazy. There’s no need to do all the crazy deal shopping, especially that early. The crowds are ridiculous and everything is just crazy about it. I’d rather just stay home and enjoy time with family and watch football. I’d rather get someone a gift that means something, like something I made or got personalized, instead of just something on sale.”

@zach_goins

arts@dailytarheel.com