Black Friday

Black Friday is a colloquial term for the Friday following Thanksgiving in the United States. It traditionally marks the start of the Christmas shopping season in the United States. Many stores offer highly promoted sales at discounted prices and often open early, sometimes as early as midnight or even on Thanksgiving. Some stores' sales continue to Monday ("Cyber Monday") or for a week ("Cyber Week").





The first recorded use of the term “Black Friday” was applied not to post-Thanksgiving holiday shopping but to financial crisis: specifically, the crash of the U.S. gold market on September 24, 1869. Two notoriously ruthless Wall Street financiers, Jay Gould and Jim Fisk, worked together to buy up as much as they could of the nation’s gold, hoping to drive the price sky-high and sell it for astonishing profits. On that Friday in September, the conspiracy finally unraveled, sending the stock market into free-fall and bankrupting everyone from Wall Street barons to farmers.

The most popular Black Friday deals often center around consumer electronics, such as TVs, computers, ​tablets, and game systems. While some shoppers are willing to wait in line for hours for a chance at a great deal, many more shoppers are opting to avoid the crowds and shop online instead.





In response, retailers now offer online shoppers many of their Black Friday deals that kick off at the same time as the in-store sales. In addition, stores that offer limited-quantity door-buster deals may also offer a different door-buster deal exclusively for online shoppers.
Desire to avoid long lines and stampeding crowds also paved the way for Cyber Monday. Cyber Monday is the Monday directly following Black Friday and is dedicated to online shoppers, with special deals available as often as every hour on some shopping sites.





Thanksgiving Day is a public holiday all over the US. Even where the day after is not a public holiday, many take a day off work or use a day from their quota of annual leave on Black Friday. Some people use this to make trips to see family members or friends who live in other areas or to go on vacation. Others use it to start shopping for the Christmas season.

Shopping for Christmas presents is also popular on Black Friday. Many stores have special offers and lower their prices on some goods, such as toys.