The Tradition of Black Friday Shopping by Swetha Shankar

Shopping on Black Friday has been tradition for me and my family for the past few years. We head out early in the morning and shop all day long for the best deals! Of course now it’s more like “Black Week” or “Black Month” as the deals start earlier and run longer. But how did this now large-scale shopping craze begin in the first place?

In its first recorded use, the term “Black Friday” was not used to refer to holiday shopping but to a financial crisis. The crash of the U.S. gold market on September 24, 1869 occurred when two Wall Street financiers worked to build up as much of the nation’s gold as they could to drive up the price. Then on that fateful Friday, they let their plan unravel, sending the stock market into a freefall and bankrupting thousands of Americans.

The real origin story of this retail holiday takes root during the 1950s. In the 1950s, police in the city of Philadelphia used the term to describe the chaos that ensued on the day after Thanksgiving, when hordes of suburban shoppers and tourists flooded into the city in advance of the big Army-Navy football game held on that Saturday every year. Not only would Philly cops not be able to take the day off, but they would also have to work extra-long shifts to deal with the additional crowds and traffic. Shoplifters would also take advantage of the confusion in stores to make off with merchandise, adding to the law enforcement headache.

Sometime in the late 1980s, however, retailers found a way to reinvent Black Friday and turn it into something that reflected positively, rather than negatively, on them and their customers. Since then, the one-day sales craze has morphed into a four-day event and spawned other “retail holidays” such as Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday. Stores have started opening earlier and earlier on Friday, and now the most dedicated shoppers can even head out right after their Thanksgiving meal.

In sum, the term “Black Friday” has always been used to describe utter confusion and chaos; however, the capitalist nature of America has changed that term to represent amazing deals and low prices everywhere! So, what are you waiting for? Go shove someone’s child to get that limited edition $50 iPad!

1981 Black Friday Chaos.