Black Friday is the busiest shopping day of the year. Black Saturday has become a holiday shopping day. Find out how it all began.
Many believe that Black Friday was named after the retailer’s profit margins, which went to the black after being in the red for a year. True, historically retailers have recorded their profits and liabilities in red and black. This is a false account of Black Friday’s history.
Black Friday
Jay Gould, a Wall Street stockbroker, and Jim Fisk created Black Friday on September 24, 1869. They devised a plan to purchase as much gold as possible from the country and make large profits. This cruel plan led to bankruptcy for the rich as well as the collapse of stock markets.
Is there a story to this association with Thanksgiving Day, you ask? Canadians can be credited with this association with Thanksgiving Day. In 1905, Eaton’s Canada department store hosted the first Thanksgiving Day Parade. This parade inspired the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. The parade was established in honor of Macy’s Roaring 20s success. This parade was a great way to increase sales and morale. Most retailers agreed that holiday sales should not be delayed until then.
Histories
Local retailers are keen to draw shoppers that day. They were not happy with the use of the word “black”, which was used to indicate unpleasant events. Black Tuesday was the 1929 stock exchange crash. Black Monday, 1987 was another day when the stock market suffered a larger percentage loss than any other day of 1929.
The holiday was rebrand by retailers as “Big Friday”, but it failed. Later, businesses adopt the Black Friday brand. This was the time when books were first made black in retail stores.
Retailers tried to spread the shopping frenzy across multiple days after a few injuries, including deaths. After shoppers went wild for the best deals, retailers tried to spread the shopping frenzy over multiple days. Cyber Monday is now being promote as Small Business Sunday. You can shop online for holiday shopping on Cyber Monday.
This year’s holiday season started long before Thanksgiving because of continuous supply chain disruptions due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Toys and electronics may not arrive in time for the holidays due to delays in manufacturing or shipping. Holiday shopping often started before Thanksgiving. The White House’s supply-chain taskforce has been closely working with private companies to speed up the process.
The Philadelphia Story
Black Friday was a popular holiday in Philadelphia back in the 1950s. The Philly police first used this phrase to describe Friday’s heavy traffic as people looked for holiday gifts and went on to see the Army-Navy football game. Police worked tirelessly to control the crowds and traffic. It was not a holiday. It was not a holiday. Philly’s department shops adopted the name Big Friday but it never caught on. It did thirty years later.
Thanksgiving Day
1941 saw the passage of a law making Thanksgiving the fourth Friday of November. To extend their holiday and take advantage of the fact that shops will be open, people call in sick the day following Thanksgiving. Many bosses decided to add Friday after Thanksgiving to their paid holidays to avoid HR headaches. This extra day was popular because it allowed people to purchase Christmas gifts earlier.
Friday after Thanksgiving was the day that shopping became synonymous with shopping. Black Friday is a result of the Philadelphia police department. The term Black Friday was first used by the Philadelphia police department in the 1950s to describe the chaos caused by suburban shoppers flooding into the city. Shoplifters used the chaos to steal goods from overcrowded shops. To manage the situation, police officers had to work longer hours.
The red-to-black theory was develope in 1980 to change negative associations associated with black Friday’s past into something positive.
Cyber Monday
The former one-day event has been extend to four days in recent years. Cyber Monday, Small Business Saturday, Sunday, and Sunday are great times to shop holiday deals. Some people skip Thanksgiving to get the best holiday deals.
Over Thanksgiving weekend, an estimated 174,000,000 Americans shop online or in stores. They spend an average of $520 per person. UK retailers predict that Brits spend approximately PS7 billion on Cyber Monday and Black Friday.
What’s the most crazy part? Black Friday isn’t the busiest day to shop – that honor goes to Saturday before Christmas.
