If you grew up watching footage of people lining up at 3 a.m., racing through store doors, and wrestling over TVs, you might be wondering: are those Black Friday shopping trends still a thing in 2025? Do people still pull an all-nighter to camp outside the mall? Or has Black Friday quietly moved online, where the only thing you wrestle with is your Wi-Fi? The short answer: Black Friday is very much alive—but it’s changed in ways that would surprise the 2010 version of you. The crowds are different, the timing is different, and honestly, the vibe is different. Let’s walk through what’s actually happening now, what the numbers say, and how to shop smarter in this new version of Black Friday. From One Wild Day to a Whole “Cyber Week” If you rewind to around 2010–2015, Black Friday felt like a one-day event with an almost sporting-event level of hype: In 2019, the National Retail Federation (NRF) estimated about 165 million people would shop at some point between Thanksgiving Day and Cyber Monday.ABC News+1 Fast-forward to the last few years, and those numbers have grown, not shrunk: So no, Black Friday hasn’t died. In some ways, it’s bigger than ever. But here’s the catch: Instead of one giant day, Black Friday has stretched out into an entire season of promotions starting in early November. Retailers now roll out “Black Friday” or “Early Black Friday” deals weeks in advance.Reuters+1 Chart 1: Shoppers Over Thanksgiving Weekend You can show this visually