The United States may have created the shopping craze known as Black Friday, but retailers in Costa Rica have up the ante with Black November, a month-long celebration to consumption that starts a few weeks ahead of the Friday after Thanksgiving Day.

One of the first merchants to roll out Black November in Costa Rica is the department store chain Ekono, a national discount retailers that mostly features products made in China. The chain formally started an event it calls Black Ekono Month this past Friday; shoppers who walk into the many Ekono stores around the country will be greeted with store displays festooned with signs offering discounts of 70 percent off on household items, 50 percent off on Christmas decorations, 30 percent off on bicycles, 50 percent off on shoes and accessories, and 20 percent off on some toys.

Ekono has 34 stores across Costa Rica, and it has been on a hiring spree for what it hopes it will be a busy season. According to a news report filed by Raquel Rodriguez of business daily La Republica, marketing managers at Ekono are confident that the uncontrolled inflation, low wages and dismal consumer confidence will drive shoppers to search for low-priced items at deep discounts.

Black Friday in Costa Rica is a 21st century phenomenon. It closely follows the post-Thanksgiving Day shopping madness in the U.S. and it just happens to fall right after a period of inventory clearance and accounting reconciliation in Costa Rica. The color adjective to describe this shopping holiday emanates from using black ink pens on accounting ledgers to mark profits instead of using red ink for losses.

In the U.S., Black Friday has the connotation of kicking off the busy holiday shopping season, which prompts retailers to use black ink pens on their accounting ledgers to mark profits rather than red ink for losses. In Costa Rica, merchants take an early chance at reducing margin per unit a month ahead, which means that shop owners intend to move more merchandise and increase store traffic. In recent years, this has been a winning formula for Tico merchants, especially for those who sell home appliances, electronics, clothing, toys, perfumes, and even tires.