Library of Congress Crowds of holiday shoppers swarm the streets of New York City.
- Black Friday is just a few weeks away, officially kicking off the holiday shopping season.
- Black Friday as a singular shopping day is becoming less important thanks to online shopping and frequent discounting.
- Still, holiday spending is expected to top $717 billion this year, according to the National Retail Federation.
- These photos show how much holiday shopping has changed over the years.
Black Friday is just around the corner.
On November 23, the holiday-shopping season will officially kick off. Though Black Friday itself is becoming less and less important thanks to the rise of online shopping and frequent discounting year-round, many retailers have been prepping for the shopping season for months. In some cases, stores have set their Christmas displays up as early as October.
This year, holiday spending is expected to top over $717 billion, according to the National Retail Federation. And the holiday shopping craze isn't new - long lines and hectic crowds have always accompanied holiday shopping, long before the term "Black Friday" was coined.
The photos below show how holiday shopping has changed - and stayed the same - since the early 1900s:
