The day that shoppers all across America have been waiting for has finally arrived. Lines and lines of people seem to stretch out for miles in front of department stores. The dedicated but restless shoppers wait impatiently for several hours before the department store opens. It’s chilly outside, and you can see the breath of the crowd condense under the department store’s fluorescent lights. The shoppers are shivering in the cold, even in their winter coats, but just the thought of being inside keeps them warm and cosy. They are about to get the most ridiculous and satisfying deals of the year.
The term “Black Friday” was first used during the financial crisis of 1869. Before the crisis, two prominent gold investors, Jay Gould and James Fisk tried to corner the gold market by hoarding gold and driving the price higher. However the government later sold four million dollars’ worth of gold at the same time which caused the price of gold to plunge. Investors, hurried desperately to sell their gold, and several went bankrupt. The collapse of the market was later named “Black Friday” because the market collapsed on a Friday. However, this has nothing to do with the current Black Friday. It was simply the first time that the term was ever used.
In the modern sense, “black” actually has a good connotation. That’s because department store used to mark their losses with a red pen and their profits with a black pen. For modern department store, Black Friday now marks the transition from losing money to making a profit from the increase in customers during the holiday season.