‘Twas the night of Thanksgiving, when people once camped for hours in the freezing cold to snag the best deals of the year. Now, sidewalks are empty, and the crowds have moved online. Yes, I’m talking about Black Friday. But the real riddle to solve is what happened to America’s once beloved holiday.
The Origins of Black Friday
The phrase “Black Friday” was first coined in the early 1960s in Philadelphia, as police officers called all the chaos the day after Thanksgiving “Black Friday.” Preceding the annual Army vs. Navy football game, policemen were working extra hard managing shopping traffic and dealing with shoplifters. As the phrase “Black Friday” started picking up traction, merchants tried pushing a rebrand to “Big Friday”, because they wanted to avoid any of the negative connotations that came with the chaos of this holiday’s origin. But this puny attempt was shortlisted and never grew popular amongst shoppers.
It wasn’t until the 1980s that the phrase spread nationally. This was when retailers were able to “flip the script” and turn it into something positive. They wanted to connect it to the financial narrative of going from “in the red” to “in the black”, where companies transition from financial loss to profitability. When a company is in the red they’re experiencing financial struggles due to exceeded revenue, leading to a deficit. When a company is in the black they are profitable because revenue is greater than expenses. When a company is in transition from red to black, they’re improving sales, managing debt and expenses, and improving their overall performance. This shift in marketing is what originally helped push the holiday nationwide.
The 2000s Black Friday Craze
Retailers began implementing new strategies in the 1990s to attract customers. They would open as early as 5 a.m., and offer greater deals to morning shoppers, encouraging early shopping. They typically had limited supplies, summoning urgency amongst customers. This led to a rise in physicality, from pushing and shoving opponents to win the best goodies. You may remember big newspapers from stores living in your household around the holiday season. Many families would do so and circle the deals they were aiming for. Large retailers like K-mart, Sears, JCPenney, and Toys “R” Us dominated the field.
Once the 2000s hit, stores began opening even earlier, around midnight, and intense crowds became a Black Friday norm. Tech products entered the playing field and became highly sought after as some of the top deals and products to buy. Flat screen TVs, Digital cameras, Laptops, Video-game players, you name it! This brought plenty of business to Best Buy, Circuit City, Walmart, and Target. Giant newspapers were still very popular for planning your shopping and scouting out future deals. During this time, there was also a growth in stampede incidents, including a fatal stampede at a Long Island, NY Walmart in 2008. A temporary employee was stampeded by a crowd of shoppers while acting as a barrier for the crowd. Four others were injured in the stampede.
Black Friday Goes Online
During the early 2010s, many stores opened at midnight, and lines accumulated shortly after families finished their Thanksgiving meals. This led to long lines camping outside of stores with blankets, tents, snacks, and company. Cyber Monday also grew rapidly; by the late 2010s, online deals were just as good, if not better, than those in person, incentivizing customers to shop via websites. This also led to many people taking stores out of their Black Friday plans. Crowds were still existing, but much smaller and more controlled.
This leads us to today, where the phrase “Black Friday” is promoted for more than just a day, and has become a week-long event. Deals are underwhelming, crowds are minimal, store hours are closer to their regular hours, and many have opted to online shopping completely. What once was a valued shopping day around the whole country has nearly become an ordinary day.
Will Black Friday ever make a comeback, or will it continue to shrink until it becomes a relic of the past? Will we experience this holiday with future generations, or simply share stories from “back in the day”?