Black Friday was crazier than ever this year, claiming at least one life and causing 20 people to be felled by pepper spray in a Los Angeles Walmart. Not to mention the great $2 waffle-maker riot of 2011. Our entire country engaged in pitched battle in Walmarts across the land.
Despite — or because of — this lunacy, this Black Friday was the most profitable one ever. Sales increased 6.6 percent over last year’s to a $11.4 billion.
According to numbers quoted in USA Today, 226 million people visited stores or shopping websites over the weekend. Individual people even spent more, the average being $400, up from $365 last year.
And the fun’s not over: today is Cyber Monday, meaning Black Friday without the pepper spray.