Remember last year when everybody flipped out about how the astoundingly huge holiday sales figures proved that the U.S. economy was leaning into a bullish comeback?
With record breaking Cyber Week numbers and the reported death of malls, it looks like Internet shopping is moving ever-closer to replacing the physical experience of going to stores. But brick-and-mortar stores still have some reasons to exist.
Amid a lagging economy and high unemployment Black Friday sales were up 6.6 percent from last year, which many are taking as a good sign for today's Cyber Monday mayhem and the rest of the shopping seasons, but those numbers are less optimistic than they sound.
Consumers came out in droves on Black Friday, often with aggressive shopping strategies, to shatter records on the single biggest shopping day ever.
Woman pepper-sprayed crowds during Black Friday in suburban Los Angeles.
America is ringing in the holidays with shootings, scuffles, and pepper spray
Everybody's getting excited about all the sweet deals coming up on the biggest shopping day of the year, but don't get too excited — you might get ripped off.
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