221123 Black Friday

Do you know when the first Black Friday occurred?

You will never guess when it first happened.

It happened in 1869 when the U.S. gold market crashed. It later became connected with retail stores when they were in the red (losing money) all year long until the day after Thanksgiving when shoppers rushed to begin Christmas shopping and stores were finally back in the black (making money) for the first time all year.

I don’t remember Black Friday being so big until many years later in the nineties when people I knew were going and camping out on the sidewalks outside the big retail stores all night long to get into the stores early to take advantage of the slashed prices on big ticket items like laptops and TV sets, or shopping for the trending toys for children because those toys sold out quickly.

Personally I avoided those sales, but I know of people who rushed out early Black Friday mornings to hopefully get the items they wanted. A nephew of mine liked to go on Black Friday just to be in the thick of the crowds and see the crazy things that happened when people would fight over items that were quickly running out of stock. With the advent of the internet becoming available to everyone, a person could do his or her Black Friday shopping online. Some companies that had offices open on Black Friday had office workers shopping online instead of doing their jobs.

Now Walmart has had Black Friday sales on Mondays long before the traditional Black Friday. In our country we have always had alcoholics and now we have shopaholics. Both have become a year round problem.

Good luck Black Friday shoppers!