When I first started working at Walmart in 1997, Black Friday felt like the ultimate event in retail. Customers lined up in the cold hours before dawn, clutching newspapers with ads circled in red ink. When the doors opened at 6 a.m., the excitement was electric, carts rushing down aisles, families comparing notes on what to grab first, and the hum of the crowd filling the store.

This event officially kicked off the holiday season.

Nearly 30 years later, I now manage a Walmart in Southern Nevada, and while the excitement remains, the experience looks very different. What used to be a single morning of frenzied shopping has evolved into a weekslong celebration, a mix of in-store visits and online deals. But at its heart, it’s still about families coming together to prepare for the holiday

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