Everywhere, shoppers stood in line for hours in 40 degree weather waiting to get electronics and clothes for great deals on Black Friday.

Black Friday is the one of the greatest anticipated days of the year for stores. Many stores open at midnight or earlier offering great deals on everything to bring in profit.

“We lined up at 3 am, and the store did not open until 5 am,” sophomore Heather Runzel said. “The line was already half way around the store.”

With such great deals, people go crazy to get what they want. Advertisements for places like Target and Kohl’s have showed crazed shoppers preparing and waiting in anticipation weeks in advance. With all the hype from commercials, statistics showed a huge leap in sales.

According to National Retail Federation, the four day weekend had a profit of $52.4 billion. Despite the recession, it looks like the guilty pleasure of buying gifts and gadgets still managed to raise sales 16% from last year’s Black Friday.

Black Friday may sound like a perfect way to get Christmas shopping done on a budget, but many are scared off by the competitiveness of the shoppers. Sometimes the shoppers go too far with their discount obsession, like a woman who used pepper spray on another shoppers to get an Xbox 360 at a Los Angeles Walmart.

“It‘s really intense. There were a lot of people pushing each other and practically shoving,” Runzel said.

For the shoppers who didn’t want to go shopping after Thanksgiving, Cyber Monday follows Black Friday, kicking off the official holiday shopping season Nov. 22. This year, Cyber Monday became the biggest online shopping in the history of internet shopping.

Although the amount of customers rose from 9 million to 10 million, individual shoppers spending average increased 9%.

Cyber week and Black Friday both give fantastic deals each year everyone can get in on. Black Friday and Cyber Monday  always brings on excitement and a welcoming for the holidays, so gear up for next year.