2009年11月30日「モバイル英語学習」第4号(エッセイ ): Black Friday

Notes:
Black Friday 魔[不吉な]の金曜日;
loss leaders 目玉商品[特売品]

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There’s a saying, “Christmas comes but once a year,” but when does the season start? In some American stores, the first few Christmas things are being sold as early as July, although most stores don’t start selling Christmas things until after Halloween. The day after Thanksgiving, which is the fourth Thursday in November, is traditionally considered the first official shopping day of the Christmas season. It’s called Black Friday, and although it is not an official holiday, many companies are closed so their employees can have a four-day weekend. On this day, many stores open extremely early, sometimes even at midnight! But the stores don’t just open early; they also have huge discounts and advertise items that are “loss leaders,” things that the store loses money on because the store believes they can make more money that way. “Christmas comes but once a year,” but it might be more accurate to say, “shopping never ends.” (by Prof. Lieske Carmella)
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