Have you ever gone shopping on Black Friday? Do you love the sales, or would you rather stay at home and avoid the crowds? Whether you like it or not, this American trend is now starting to spread worldwide.
Black Friday has been a popular day for shopping in the United States for many years, it is always on the day after Thanksgiving. Most schools and government workers have the day after Thanksgiving off, which allows for a greater number of potential shoppers. For Americans, the day after Thanksgiving is considered the beginning of the Christmas season and around this time, people start to plan what gifts they will buy for their loved ones for Christmas, thus Black Friday was born. Retailers took advantage of the official start of the Christmas season to offer incredible sales to attract large numbers of shoppers.
There are two different theories for the origin of the name, Black Friday. One is that many retailers from January to November operated at a financial loss or, “in the red“. When the Christmas season started, they began to make profit and were therefore “in the black.” It is said that the true theory for the name originated in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Starting in the 1960s, every year on the day after Thanksgiving, there was an Army-Navy American football game. This football game brought in tons of shoppers, tourists and traffic. For the people of Philadelphia, this day was a complete nightmare and was given the name Black Friday.
Black Friday really gained popularity as an important shopping day in the early 2000´s. All of this biggest stores in the USA began to open their doors at 6:00am on Black Friday and offered great discounts. In some cases, on this day stores are chaotic and shoppers are in a frenzy trying to get the best items at the best prices. A few years ago, stores started to open earlier and earlier. First at 5:00am then 4:00am and then stores began to open at midnight (on Thanksgiving night). This year, there has been scrutiny about stores opening on Thanksgiving. Many people believe that Thanksgiving should be spent with your family, not out shopping. There is also criticism because it is not fair to make retail workers leave their family on Thanksgiving to meet the needs of shoppers. Fortunately, this year some of the major stores in the US decided to remain closed on Thanksgiving and wait until the morning of Black Friday to open.
In recent years, the idea of Black Friday became popular around the world. With the growth in popularity of online shopping, shoppers from around the world can now access the sales and discounts that were formerly only available in the United States. Also, popular stores in other countries are now beginning to offer Black Friday sales. In countries such as the UK, Spain, and France the Black Friday trend has caught on.