The History of Black Friday

In recent years, the Black Friday traditions have changed drastically. The most noticeable shift has been especially prevalent in our lifetimes, after the COVID-19 Pandemic. As many stores shifted their Black Friday Sales from brick-and-mortar storefronts to online sales. Instead of a day where people line up outside of stores for hours and trample others for discounted TVs, Black Friday has become, at most stores, a virtual week-long sale. This is the Black Friday I remember hearing about from my childhood, as I know many of us probably do. All of this change had me curious about what the history of Black Friday looked like.

Black Friday usually occurs the Friday after Thanksgiving, but reportedly the term “Black Friday” first originated on Sept. 24, 1869, when two Wall Street capitalists were trying to figure out how to buy and sell as much gold as possible in order to manipulate the stock market. This resulted in gold prices dropping dramatically and led to a plummeting financial situation, this financial crash was referred to as “Black Friday”, and is the oldest recorded use of the term. Black Friday sales also unofficially began in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Many stores that sponsored the Thanksgiving parades hosted celebratory sales and would open their doors to holiday shoppers, according to Walden University. While the sales took place, the name “Black Friday” had not been associated with the tradition yet.

In the early 1950s, however, the term “Black Friday” referred to the influx of crowds in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that would show up to watch the Army-Navy Game on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. The large influx of people into the city meant that cops would have to work overtime to help tame rowdy crowds and were unable to take the day off. There were a lot of cases of looting and shoplifting during the rush of people arriving for the game. By 1961, the term “Black Friday” had caught on in Philly, and the city’s merchants would try to profit from the large amounts of people around, but, in an attempt to shake the connotations of shoplifting, the merchants tried to rename the day “Big Friday.” Then, in the 1980s, the tradition that began in Philadelphia started to catch on nationally, but kept the original name “Black Friday.” Although they kept the original name, which had ties to shoplifting, retailers began to instead say that the name originated because sales and profits went from in the red (negative profits) to in the black (making profits) in order to erase Black Friday’s links to crime and theft.

While that only explains how the name Black Friday came about, there is actually a long, unofficial tradition of sales after Thanksgiving in order to kick off the holiday season. As mentioned previously, as far back as the late 1800s, stores that sponsored Thanksgiving parades would host celebratory sales. Additionally, in 1939, in the midst of The Great Depression, the retail industry lobbied to move Thanksgiving from the fifth Thursday in November to the fourth Thursday in November in order to allow retailers more time to make holiday sales and for customers to do holiday shopping. This extra week of shopping was so successful that in 1941, the US Congress permanently moved Thanksgiving to the fourth Thursday in November. From 1945 to 1970, or what is known as the Post World War II Period, highways expanded nationally, and suburbs became more popular, which allowed for new retailers and a rise in shopping malls. This shift took a lot of power away from large department store companies, many of which failed. This advancement in transportation and shift towards more suburban living also increased competition between retailers to attract shoppers and the ability and drive to break industry norms to gain an advantage.

Additionally, in the 1980s, there was a huge spike in mall culture, which makes a lot of sense why Black Friday largely began to morph into the Black Friday we know today during this period. As mentioned before, this is the same time when the name “Black Friday” began to catch on nationally. From the 1980s into the 1990s, Christmas decor and holiday shopping promos began to show up in retail earlier and earlier, and into the beginning of November. However, holiday shopping still surged the most on the Friday after Thanksgiving and the coming weeks leading up to the winter holidays, making that the time of year when retailers made a large amount of profit. In order to create excitement and spur sales, retailers and the media sought ways to promote sales the day after Thanksgiving, on Black Friday, given the trend that they had noticed in people’s shopping behavior. And thus, Black Friday became commercialized and largely a marketing tactic for a broad number of businesses nationally, with the hopes of increasing profit.

In the early 2000s, Black Friday was in its prime, and large crowds surged to stores, even lining up outside on Thanksgiving night. Significant price cuts motivated consumers to show up and compete for items. Many of us probably remember a crazy Black Friday story or two from the early 2000s when Black Friday seemed to be the most competitive it had ever been. However, this prime time for intense Black Friday shoppers would only last about 20 years. Due to the COVID-19 Lockdown of 2020, many stores moved their sales online and extended their deals in order to decrease the volume of crowds in stores, and therefore, also decrease the spread of the COVID-19 Virus. This method of Black Friday ended up sticking as more and more businesses moved their Black Friday deals online and extended their sales past just the Friday after Thanksgiving. There have also recently been similar traditions that have branched off from Black Friday, such as Small Business Saturday or Sunday, Cyber Monday, and many other Black Friday deals that last sometimes weeks online. With online shopping becoming more and more common for shoppers and retailers alike and the decrease in Brick and Mortar store fronts as well as the decrease in mall culture, many of the sales have moved online and seem to be staying that way. Also, the discounts granted to shoppers have dwindled as well since this shift occurred; all of these factors have seemed to have decreased Black Friday’s impact and competitive nature.

However, even though the way that we go about Black Friday has changed drastically in recent years, participation in this tradition has remained strong despite the differences. Walden University reports that in 2024, 81.7 million shoppers showed up in physical stores on Black Friday, and 87.3 million shoppers made online purchases. This is only a 5.6 million difference between those who bought online and those who shopped at physical stores. Additionally, Walden University also adds that $10.8 billion was spent by online shoppers on Black Friday in 2024, which has increased 10% since 2023, and a total of $74.4 billion was spent globally in the 24-hour period on Black Friday. This seems to suggest that while people are mostly participating in online Black Friday sales, there are still a lot of people participating in Black Friday shopping, it just looks different than it used to.

From financial crises to shoplifting to competitive and chaotic store experiences to online sales from the comfort of home, Black Friday has continued for over 200 years. Though Black Friday has morphed drastically since the early 1800s and continues to evolve with the new technological advancements, the tradition still finds ways to stay relevant. Will you be shopping this Black Friday, Nov. 28, 2025? If you are, I prompt you to think, between your purchases, about the history of Black Friday and how it may continue to change with society in the future.