From the Ukrainian and Pakistan airplane crashes, the wildfires in California, extreme flooding in Indonesia, widespread talk about the show Tiger King, speculation about One Direction reuniting, social unrest from police violence, nationwide protests and riots, the impeachment trial and later acquittal of President Donald Trump, the finalization of “Brexit,” nationwide lockdowns due to COVID-19, bushfires in Australia, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle leaving the royal family, to the conviction and sentencing of Harvey Weinstein, the explosion in Beirut, and the deaths of Chadwick Boseman, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Sean Connery, and Kobe Bryant and his daughter, it is safe to say that the year 2020 has been unlike any other and will be remembered for years to come. As the end of the year approaches, holiday shopping is upon us. Obviously Black Friday will look different this year, but people and news reporters have speculated how different this year’s holiday shopping will be.

Known as the biggest shopping day of the year, people flock to stores at the crack of dawn to wait in extremely long lines in hopes of getting good deals for Christmas presents. Black Friday is not completely cancelled this year, but it will look unlike any other Black Friday before. Instead of businesses running deals the week of Thanksgiving and Black Friday, deals will be available through the whole month of November and a few in late October. Big Black Friday retailers like Macy’s, Best Buy, Kohl’s, JCPenney, Sam’s Club, Target, and Walmart won’t be open in the evening on Thanksgiving as they usually are. Stores will open Friday morning. Unlike most years when retailers encourage as many shoppers to come into the store as possible to the point where there is a two-hour-long line out of the building, retailers are doing the opposite this year. It is predicted that most people will do their holiday shopping online this year to limit the amount of close contact with other people, which will make Cyber Monday a bigger deal than Black Friday this year. It is also predicted that many people will use curbside pickup to get their gifts rather than going into stores. For those who do venture into stores, they must social distance and there will be limitations on the amount of people allowed in a store at once.

While the way in which people buy gifts this year may be altered, it is expected that people will still give and receive the normal amount of gifts. Since 2020 has been a year unlike any other, it is to be expected that Black Friday this year will be unlike any other in the past.