Black Friday

BLACK FRIDAY

The term “Black Friday” was first used in Philadelphia in 1961. It refers to the Friday after Thanksgiving Day—the start of the Christmas shopping season since 1952. Long referred to as the busiest shopping day of the year in the United States, that didn’t actually become true until 2003.

 

Black Friday used to start at 6am but as the first decade of the new millennium progressed, that opening time started to get earlier. Finally in 2011, major retailers like Target, Kohl’s, Best Buy and Macy’s began opening at midnight. Not to be outdone, Walmart pushed the Black Friday opening to 8pm on Thanksgiving Day in 2012 and the opening time continued to get earlier for some stores.

 

Black Friday is actually not as important to the Christmas Season shopping as it used to be. Many stores now start the Christmas season much earlier, spreading out their sales throughout November and December.

 

Shopping on Black Friday is not without risk. 7 deaths and 98 injuries have been reported on this day as the result of confrontations between shoppers since 2006.