When did "Black Friday" become a common term?

[smark21]

Growing up in the 70's the day after Thanksgiving was a big shopping day, but I never recall it being referred to as "Black Friday". And there weren't doorbusters and people linining up for hours on end to get in to buy deeply discounted cheap junk. Sometime in the past 15 years the big shopping day after Thanskgiving has come to overshadowed Thanksgiving itself. What a shame. In LA, some crazy woman pepper sprayed shoppers so she could get to some deeply discounted cheap merchandise at a Walmart in Los Angeles. It's just trashy.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/11/at-wal-mart-pepper-spray-attack-triggered-chaos-screaming.html

[blueskies]

It's just trashy.

I agree Smark. I look at all these people spending 'all night' in lines, sleeping in tents, sleeping bags, having friends and relatives 'posted' at other stores with cell phones in hand, etc. Do they have jobs....a life? I read in a local paper this woman says she loves 'meeting new people', socializing and would just as soon skip Thanksgiving. How sad is that! Maybe there's more to this than just a good deal? Are people THAT bored and need the attention they get from doing this? Then, there's the pepper spray, people being trampled. Is this the Wal-Mart mentality? Yes, I think there are hard working, honest people seeking some deals.....but, I think it goes a lot deeper. I think many people are putting more time, energy and planning into Black Friday than Thanksgiving. Sad. It ain't all that.

[Doug-Morgan]

I've got a mall based 30 year retail career behind me, and I find it a little sad to think of "the good old days" of being when the shopping center opened at 7am on Black Friday.

As I understand it, the phrase itself goes back to mid 60's Philly, when police and bus drivers began calling the day after Thanksgiving "Black Friday", due to the traffic jams associated with people going shopping. The name came into more common usage as shopping areas became more diverse, and retailers attempted to draw customers to stand alone big box stores.

Smark21's right, though. It was an annual trek to Hudson's for my mother and I the day after Thanksgiving, not so much to shop as to look at the displays in the store windows. For years, Hudson's had the most glorious window displays during the holidays.

[jillfoster]

I thought it was called that because it's the biggest day of the year sales-wise, hence the retailers finally being in the black from then on to the end of the year.

[P-Shark: The Revenge]

Praise the almighty dollar


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uP2TZZYGWuQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWnL0NsjGx0
Risking people lives just to save some bucks.

[144man]

They were talking about Black Friday on BBC News this morning, and that's the first time I've heard the phrase used in the UK. Price reductions have never come this early before here.

[Doug-Morgan]

Insert Tom Leher song here.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rZKjn_K2oo

[stephanie]

I am amazed at the number of people who stand in line to get a cabbage patch doll [[remember that), a new IPOD, or a full screen tv that is marked down. Some of these prices will be even lower in January. I think if we remembered God as much as we do Black Friday the world would be a much better place.

[chidrummer]

You want history? That's what The Net is for:

http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1942935,00.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Friday_%28shopping%29

[daddyacey]

It ,"Black Friday" has grown to be a fad like Disco , Hollween and the grandaddy of em all CHRISTMAS!! The BLACK in in referrence to an accounting term. Black ink in a ledger means profit ,Red means loss. Since the late 80's when the Economics that we were taught in school back in the 60's ,[[supply and demand ,GNP etc.) finally made sense ,[[but they don't teach any more like Home Economics ,Shop, MUSIC and Accounting) and recession became a popular fear and tool of politics ,the day after THANKSGIVING was the start of the CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY season. All the shit you ain't sold all year needs to go now ,before the end of the calendar/fiscal year, even at a loss or in 1990-2011 ,as a ruse to get you in the store to buy gifts for CHRISTMAS ,which has nothing to do with the basis of CHRISTMAS in the first place. BLACK FRIDAY is a full blown 21'st century commercial fad based on a unspoken old tradition. Much like you put your CHRISTMAS tree up on THANKSGIVING and take it down on the day after NEW YEARS. I'm 56 ,and when I was a kid in the 50's and 60's the stores were closed on SUNDAY , EASTER ,THANKSGIVING, CHRISTMAS and NEW YEARS DAY. If you didn't have what you needed by SUNDAY ,you were shit out of luck, till MONDAY. In 2011 ,even Liquor Stores are open on SUNDAY!!!! Ain't that a trip!!!!!!!!!!!! DOLLAR BILL YALL <DOLLAR DOLLAR DOLLAR DOLLAR BILL YALL..............

[marv2]

It is disgusting and makes some people go plain mental! A few years ago my barber's cousin was working security at a Wal-Mart on Long Island and was trampled and killed by "hungry" shoppers on "Black Friday".

[smark21]

Here's a video of Walmart Black Friday shoppers fighting over $2 Waffle Irons: http://gawker.com/5862628/watch-the-great-black-friday-two+dollar-waffle-iron-riot?autoplay

Yesterday at work I was talking to one of my co workers about the pepper spray incident in LA. He told me that a few years ago, he decided to camp out overnight for a Black Friday sale. While camping out, he looked around and began to feel like a loser, throwing away family time to be camping out for a sale and he realized his fellow campers were also losers as well. He decided never again to give up holiday time to stand in line for a sale as it was not worth saving a few dollars.

[soulster]

I recall a 70s song by Steely Dan called "Black Friday", and it was about the shopping frenzy.

[P-Shark: The Revenge]

Black Friday was also the name of a movie starring Boris Karloff & Bela Lugosi

http://www.videodetective.com/movies/trailers/black-friday-trailer/316727

[chidrummer]

soulster, Steely Dan's Black Friday has more to do with Bernie Madoff than Christmas shopping.

The song's about a broker who knows the crash is coming and is planning his escape to Australia where he's going to change his name and live quietly. Kind of a cousin to Third World Man and Sign in Stranger.