Black Friday is almost here. What to know about the holiday sales event’s history and evolution

By WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS
AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — If you didn’t already guess it from a barrage of sales ads in your inbox, the holiday shopping season is upon us. And Black Friday is right around the corner. While Black Friday may no longer look like the crowd-filled, in-person mayhem that it was just decades ago — in large part due to the rising dependence on online shopping that was accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic — the holiday sales event is still slated to attract millions of consumers. The extension of Black Friday sales and growing strength of other shopping events (hello Cyber Monday) is also changing what holiday spending looks like today.