Black Friday is around the corner and even though there has been some changes due to COVID-19, the same images remain: long lines, tired customers, towering displays that will be destroyed too soon, and frazzled employees. Some of these frazzled employees you might even recognize, many students at Perry are planning on working Black Friday this year. Here is a peek behind the scenes of Black Friday from the point of view of students.

Solace Zobel, senior, works at Target

Where do you work? How long have you worked there?

I work at Target and I’ve been there for about 6-7 months now.

Have you worked Black Friday before? What’s the craziest thing that’s happened? Are you working this year?

I have not worked Black Friday before but I’m sure I will be scheduled to work it this year.

What is your store doing this year in terms of sales/spacing etc.? How will this be different from previous years?

My store isn’t actually doing things all that much different this year. We’re starting some of our sales a little early to hopefully cut down on traffic in the store on Black Friday. We also have drive ups this year which is different from last year which will also keep our store from being so crowded.

Are you concerned about COVID? Do you think Black Friday is a good idea in the current situation?

Personally, I am not super concerned about COVID just because my place of work has a lot of good guidelines in place to keep everyone as safe as possible. As for whether or not I think Black Friday is a good idea, I don’t think it’s a bad idea. I just think it’s all about what the guests want. If they feel unsafe coming into our store that is totally fine but those who still want to come should be allowed to as long as they are trying their best to do their part and keep others safe.

Is there something about Black Friday that most customers don’t know? What’s going on behind the scenes?

If I’m completely honest we haven’t been told a whole lot about what this Black Friday is going to look like mostly because the company is trying to figure it out as we go. All I really know is that Black Friday is definitely still happening and we will still be having super good deals. One little nugget that some people might not know is that we are going to try and incorporate our app a lot more this year so some of those really great Black Friday deals will be target circle only offers so guests should know to bring in their phones, use the app, and scan all their items for potential deals.

Eric O’Dell, senior, works at Kohl’s

Where do you work? How long have you worked there?

I work at Kohls and have been working there for almost two months.

Have you worked Black Friday before? What’s the craziest thing that’s happened? Are you working this year?

I have never worked Black Friday before but I have a feeling I will this year. The craziest thing that has ever happened at my store so far is that someone tried to steal $800 worth of merchandise.

What is your store doing this year in terms of sales/spacing etc.? How will this be different from previous years?

Kohl’s will start its Black Friday Week sale on Nov. 22 and a “Super Deals” sale will start online on Thanksgiving.  Kohl’s stores will open at 5 a.m. Black Friday, Nov. 27. Shoppers will also earn $15 Kohl’s Cash for every $50 that they spend instead of the usual $10 Kohls Cash. To put it simply Kohls has a lot of Black Friday that are starting very early this year and most are online to help accommodate with COVID-19 safety regulations.

Are you concerned about COVID? Do you think Black Friday is a good idea in the current situation?

I am a little worried about working in the middle of a pandemic right now because with cases on the rise again, everything seems to feel a little uncertain. However, with my job at least, I’m usually left alone on the floor to help tidy up the floor and occasionally answer customer questions; so there is plenty of social distancing. Plus everyone is in masks. As for Black Friday, I feel like it will still be ok to go on with the sales because lots of people love to shop online these days anyway.

Is there something about Black Friday that most customers don’t know? What’s going on behind the scenes?

Black friday behind the scenes is a lot of preparation. At Kohl’s there are a lot of items that we are trying to sell at crazy low prices in order to make room for the incoming holiday inventory. The store is also starting to stay open later and there is an overnight crew that comes in and helps with keeping up Christmas inventory and cleaning up anything in the store that the closing crew didn’t get to.