Black Friday gets trampled in November rush

The Boston Globe reports:

Black Friday, long considered the single biggest shopping day of the year and the ceremonial start of the holiday season, has died, succumbing to rampant competition and complications from the Internet. It was nearly 50 years old.

The proliferation of other days that offer blockbuster savings robbed the traditional Black Friday sale of its distinctive retail identity. Now, the Friday after Thanksgiving is no longer the only day shoppers can get a Samsung Galaxy S5 for a penny. Or a 50-inch LED TV for $218.

“It’s the end of an American shopping tradition,” said Burt P. Flickinger III, managing director at SRG Insight, a retail consulting firm in New York.

Tradition.