Independent businesses reject Black Friday in UK

Does a boycott of independent retailers show Black Friday hurts small businesses?

Words: Felice Southwell

If you’ve been on any website in the past week, you’ll have probably guessed that Black Friday is tomorrow, bringing the usual sales frenzies.

In the UK, it sometimes feels like Black Friday creeps up on us without much warning.

Originating in the US, it represents the beginning of the discounted shopping season, on the Friday following Thanksgiving (the last Thursday in November).

Even though Boxing Day has always been considered to have the biggest retail sales of the year in the UK for British retailers, Black Friday has grown in strength over the past decade.

In 2014, Black Friday sales caused police forces to be called to deal with crowd control incidents—some customers even assaulted and threatened retail staff.

Has the American export devalued the British Christmas shopping season?

Or is it a chance for smaller, independent retailers to thrive in their market?

Credit: iStock

Bargains or boycotts?

This year, the largest ever boycott of Black Friday has been planned…