So what’s up with Black Friday? {True Story}

So Black Friday is upon us and we anxiously await to see what type of promotions some of our favorite stores will be running this time around. And let’s be honest Patricia, we can get really into it. Like, really really into it. Like, abandon all pride and dignity for a sale into it. Kidding! But hey, Black Friday is probably the biggest shopping day of the year and people end up queuing for days (exaggerating a tad bit) to be able to grab pretty decent specials.

It got me thinking: what’s up with Black Friday? I mean… how’d it start? We know that it originated in America. But what does the name “Black Friday” mean? So I Googled and cross checked my sources and dug a bit deeper and this is what I found:

The truth behind Black Friday
Some people believe that Black Friday got it’s name from American retailers. These business owners supposedly gave it the nickname after anticipating the move of profits that were “in the red” to “in the black” (after Thanksgiving). But that’s not the entire story though.

Apparently the term “Black Friday” was first used in 1869 when 2 greedy financiers, Jay Gould and Jim Fisk, bought up all the nation’s gold supply, in order to up it’s price and sell it at a huge profit. This resulted in the market crashing and hundreds of people losing their lives savings.

The term popped up again in the 1950’s in Philadelphia when police offers started using it to refer to the day after Thanksgiving.

The American holiday saw hordes of people flooding the city’s shopping district before the yearly Army-Navy football game, on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Because of this police officers were forced to work on that day. So it has always been a pretty bleak time for them, thus dubbed “Black Friday.”

The nickname was remixed when merchants jumped in to claim it as a day that they would run specials. It was changed to “Big Friday”, but that did not stick.

“Black Friday” soon spread all across America and gave birth to other shopping days, such as Cyber Monday and Gray Thursday. Stores try to capitalize on the Thanksgiving holiday by keeping it’s doors open, much to the dismay of its workers. Shame.

So, there you have it. You’re welcome.