15 facts you didn’t know about Black Friday! (List)

They are amazing! Read them here!

1. The day was dubbed “Black Friday” back in the 1960s, when account books were still kept using pen and ink and the day’s sales helped move stories out of the “red” (losses) and into the “black” (profits). Since then, times — and shopping habits — have changed.

2. Americans spend more time shopping on Thanksgiving weekend than they do visiting Disney hot spots. Walmart alone boasts that last year it attracted more than 22 million people to its stores just on Thanksgiving Day. That’s more than the 18.5 million people who visit Disneyworld in Florida every year, or the 16 million who visit Disneyland in California. Fifty-five percent of Americans — approximately 133.7 million people — shopped in stores or online during Thanksgiving weekend last year, according to the National Retail Federation. Numbers are expected to climb this year, with an estimated 135.8 million shoppers spending money on holiday gifts this year, according to the trade association.

3. Wal-Mart will stay open 24 hours. The deals may start at 5 a.m., but the world’s biggest retailer will open hours before that. After last year’s tragic trampling death of a Wal-Mart employee in Long Island, New York, the world’s biggest retailer will open very early to ease crowds.

4. Netbook and laptop deals are hot. Leaked Black Friday ads show impressive door-buster bargains from big box retailers.

5. $3 appliances at Target. What costs less than that venti mocha you’re drinking outside Target at 4 a.m.? How about a new coffeemaker? Target is practically giving away some Chefmate appliances, including toasters, and coffee and sandwich makers.

6. Black Friday has already begun. It started in early November, in fact, as JCPenney, Sears, Target, and Wal-Mart all kicked off Black Friday-style specials, both online and in their brick-and-mortar stores. Indeed, Black Friday is no longer a single day of discounts, but rather a month-long extravaganza of consumerist frenzy.

7. HDTVs have gotten really cheap. It’s no secret that tech gear always gets less expensive and more powerful, but high-def TVs are looking particularly economical this season. Examples from Black Friday Ads include a $663 Sony 40-inch LCD 1080p HDTV from Best Buy; and a $590 Toshiba 40-in 1080p LCD set from Sears.

8. Thanks to shopping site dealnews, iPhone users can download a free app to browse Black Friday ads from top retailers. And once Black Friday ends, the dealnews app will list Cyber Monday sales too.

9. The bad economy may lure more shoppers. Unemployment rates are the highest they’ve been in nearly three decades, and retailers are worried that consumers will be frugal for the holidays. As a result, there may be more competition for those $299 laptops and $99 Blu-ray players on Black Friday.

10. Even Macs are on sale. Apple typically doesn’t duke it out with the Windows PC boys in the bargain basement. But that doesn’t mean that Mac fans won’t find deals. Best Buy will give a $150 gift card to shoppers who buy a $1000 MacBook (13.3-inch display). MacMall and other retailers have Apple deals too.

11. Several years ago, stores started kicking off their Black Friday sales a day early, on Thanksgiving Day itself. Target and Walmart, for instance, will begin offering the deals this year at 6 p.m. on Thursday, while Toys R Us and Best Buy start even earlier, at 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving. JC Penney isn’t even waiting for shoppers to have dinner first: they’ll open their doors at 3 p.m. on Thanksgiving. A complete list of chain stores open on Thanksgiving is available online. Many stores hold Black Friday sales all weekend, and for those shoppers who’d rather not venture into a store at all, there are plenty of deals to be found online. The Monday after Thanksgiving weekend was first given the name “Cyber Monday” in 2005 by Shop.org, and has since become a nearly as important to retailers as Black Friday.

12. Seven people have died and 98 have been injured in the U.S. while Black Friday shopping since 2006, according to news reports compiled by Black Friday Death Count. Stampeding crowds and angry, violent shoppers are usually the reason, but in 2009 a shooting broke out in the checkout line in a California Toys ‘R’ Us that left both gunmen dead. That’s more people injured or killed by fellow shoppers than by sharks. According to statistics from National Geographic, there are an average of 16 shark attacks in the U.S. each year, with one fatal attack every two years.

13. Amazon has leveraged its massive shipping resources to aggressively compete with retailers and other e-commerce sites during the holidays in recent years — and this year it is taking that rivalry a step further. The shopping giant offering some of its deals a full week before Black Friday, Wired reports.

14. The shopping holiday is famous for people looking for deals on inexpensive technology or gadgets like TVs or Xbox game consoles, but low-cost items and household basics are big sellers during Black Friday, Molly Blakeman, spokeswoman for Walmart, tells U.S. News. “Pajamas are a big seller,” she says. “Some locations sell out of pajamas and other household items.” Walmart said in a press release said it will be well stocked this year. “Walmart will have more than 1 million televisions, more than 15 million movies and more than 10 million pajamas for its Black Friday event,” according to the press release.

15. Thanks to Internet, shoppers can to take advantage of Black Friday deals without leaving their homes. Adobe reports that Americans spent $1.33 billion online during Thanksgiving last year, along with $2.4 billion on Black Friday. Online shopping increased approximately 25 percent during both of those days compared with 2013, according to the study. Massive foot traffic is still expected at malls and shops this year, a survey of prospective shoppers by the National Retail Federation showed that only 55 percent went to stores, in part because online shopping and fast delivery enable people to find bargains in early November and sometimes the week before Christmas.