black friday

The big gimmick this Thanksgiving season is retailers beginning their Black Friday sales on Thursday, a day previously reserved for turkey and football with the family. This has understandably annoyed retail employees, who now have to work on what was previously a holiday. It also isn't necessarily winning over consumers.

Holiday shoppers have been sharpening their skills for weeks in anticipation of all the Thanksgiving and Black Friday deals that are schedule to go down before most holiday dinners are even digested.

Let the sales begin...on Thanksgiving Day?

Retailers reported robust numbers on Black Friday last year, which surprised some analysts because the economy is still struggling and unemployment is high. But new data from the Federal Reserve shows where much of that money came from: credit cards.

Twenty-four percent of Americans plan to brave the crowds and take advantage of seductive Black Friday savings, according to a survey of 1,168 adults by Poll Position.

Chris Hondros, Getty Images You have your Black Friday ads. You know when the stores open. You even know the most dangerous toys being sold this year. You, sir or madam, are ready to shop. Or are you? Here are a few more suggestions to make your Black Friday buying excursions go as smoothly as possible   (N)Duran, Flickr 1 Leave the Kids at Home     Even if you aren’t shopping for them and thu

With Black Friday coming up, all eyes are on the big retail chains, and who's going to open earliest. Your Walmarts, Best Buys, Targets - they're the ones who get a ton of press and a ton of sales. If you're sick of it, maybe you can get behind a brilliant new Thanksgiving shopping holiday - Small Business Saturday. American Express is behind it, which is kind of ironic, since they don't exactly scream small business -but here's the idea:

Every year retailers ramp up the sales and hope to get into the black (hence the name) on the day after Thanksgiving.  Either we are or are not in a recession, depending on who's information you wish to trust.  Government talking heads like Bernake and Geithner will have you believe one minute that there is no longer a recession and the next we're teetering on the edge of destruction...