The day after Thanksgiving in the United States - the 4th Friday in November - has become the traditional starting date for the Christmas shopping season in the U.S. and Canada, marked by promotional sales by major retailers attracting throngs of eager shoppers at early hours seeking the best deals before supplies run out.
Originally used to describe stock market crashes, the term "Black Friday" was first associated with Thanksgiving in the 1960s, referring to the heavy traffic that followed Thanksgiving Day in Philadelphia. But it wasn't until the 1990s that Black Friday began to be widely used as a reference to post-Thanksgiving sales, indicating a day when the retailers went "into the black" and started turning a profit.
The idea that Christmas shopping season begins the day after Thanksgiving has been promoted by retailers and local communities for more than a century with parades like the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York and the Toronto Santa Claus Parade that concluded with the appearance of Santa Claus.
It was an unwritten rule among department stores that Christmas advertising would not begin until the parade was over.
Black Friday Shoppers
While most Black Friday shoppers are seeking the thrill of saving money, not all of them are alike. There are three basic types of Black Friday shoppers:
The Game Show Shopper races from one store to the next, collecting as many freebies and unbelievable bargains as possible before time is up. Working as a team, one shopper holds a place in line while others grab the deals.
The Hunting Shopper stalks the targeted bargains listed in each store and searches for pop-up specials that stores offer that day. Doorbusters go fast, so a day or two before Black Friday the stores with the doorbuster deals desired are plotted out in order of most to least important. The shopper plans to buy the truly doorbuster items. The other stuff will get marked down later. This is no time to browse.
The On-Line Shopper does not enjoy the bustle of long lines and crowds. This shopper strategically flits from one website to another, vying to beat out the on-line competition for a limited number of products sold at unheard-of prices.
Injuries and Deaths
Large crowds of shoppers competing for bargain-priced goods have caused numerous injuries and even deaths during Black Friday.
At a Long Island Wal-Mart, a 34-year-old temporary worker was trampled to death on Long Island as an estimated 2,000 people raced to snag sale items when the doors opened (or were smashed) at 5 a.m. The worker died of asphyxiation.
In 2005, at a Wal-Mart in Grand Rapids, Michigan, a pregnant woman had to be taken to the hospital after being knocked down by fellow shoppers.