Vanessa Friedman: [T]here's no such thing as Black Friday anymore, not in a literal sense. It long ago escaped -- or transcended -- its original meaning and location, leaping beyond United States borders to establish itself in other countries and continents, to become just another shopping day in a sea of shopping days. ... "Black Friday used to be the greatest day in retail all year,"[market researcher Marshal] Cohen said. "Now it's becoming background noise."