Why do people call the day after Thanksgiving "Black Friday"?

Answer 1

The origin of Black Friday comes from the shift to profitability during the holiday season. Black Friday was when retailers went from being unprofitable, or "in the red," to being profitable, or "in the black", at a time when accounting records were kept by hand and red indicated loss and black profit.

Answer 2

Accounting practice

One theory is that retailers traditionally operated at a financial loss for most of the year (January through November) and made their profit during the holiday season. When this would be recorded in the financial records, common accounting practices use red ink to show negative amounts and black ink would show positive amounts. Black Friday is the beginning of the period where they would no longer have losses (the red) and instead take in the year's profits (the black). [citation needed]
Look up in the red, in the black in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

[edit] Stress from large crowds

Another theory comes from the fact that shopping experience on this day can be extremely stressful. The term is used as a comparison to the extremely stressful and chaotic experience of Black Thursday or other black days. According to The Word Spy:

Earliest Citation:
Christmas decorations around Tampa Bay started going up in late October, and business has been brisk since then. And while Friday--known as Black Friday for the legendary hordes--will be the biggest shopping day for many area stores, others ring up the greatest sales the Saturday before Christmas.
—Marilyn Marks, "Retailers expect good sales this Christmas," St. Petersburg Times, November 27, 1986

There exists an earlier reference, speaking to the Friday after Thanksgiving:

A BLACK FRIDAY.
There have been many Black Fridays in recent history. Most of them have been days of financial panic. There has been none of blacker foreboding than last Friday. And the blackness is not loss or fear of loss in stocks and bonds.
New York Times (1857-Current file).
New York, N.Y.: Dec 3, 1922. pg. 38, 1 pgs
ISSN/ISBN 03624331

Employees of retail stores have for years referred to Black Friday in a satirical way, to note the extremely stressful and hectic nature of the day. Heavy traffic and customer demands added to the long hours make it a difficult day[citation needed].

Answer 3

This is an economic phenomina.
This is the day that retail merchants look to get out of the red and into the black, as the Christmas spending begins. Most stores make no profit until "Black Friday," and then it's off to the races for the rest of the fiscal year.

Answer 4

St Petersburg has something that gets below your skin and if you intend to discover what it's then, you need to have a search with hotelbye . Nevsky Prospect is St Petersburg's principal avenue and among the best-known streets in Russia. Cutting through the old center of the town, it works from the Admiralty, image of Russian power, to the Alexander Nevsky Monastery and it will soon be very beautiful to go along that block in the evening when all illuminations on. Here, you can see every thing: the most spectacular structure, the impressive palaces, the world-famous museums and the sparkling five-star hotels. Among the areas must see from St. Petersburg is State Hermitage Museum. The main architectural set of the Hermitage is situated in the middle of St Petersburg and consists in: Winter Palace, once the former state residence of the Russian emperors, houses of the Small, Old (Great) and New Hermitages, the Hermitage Theatre and the Auxiliary House.

Answer 5

"In the black," a bookkeeping term, means showing a profit. Financial assets or gains were or are printed in black ink. Losses are or were entered in red ink in a separate column. Black Friday sales bring a lot of money in quickly so merchants can end the year "in the black," making profits, rather than "in the red," losing or owing money. The word black has a variety of literal and symbolic meanings that have nothing to do with anything negative. In finances as well as in racial matters, the old 1960s slogan is true: Black Is Beautiful.

Answer 6

I believe that it means something like if a shopping establishment has been in the red all year (which means in debt if you didn't know), they can get into the black the day after thanksgiving with all the sales that they will do as well as have. Now don't quote me on this because this is my own interpretation.

Answer 7

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
Why do people call the day after Thanksgiving "Black Friday"?

Answer 8

This was attributed to the fact that this was day most retailers went from the red to the black as most answerers have offered. However, this is no longer true. Consumers tend to shop more closer to the holiday than they used to. In fact, there were five shopping days last year that showed higher sales than Black Friday.

Answer 9

They call it Black Friday because its the beginning of the time of year where businesses make alot of profit. They say it comes from the Black Market were you get things for cheap but its really when the businesses make more profit and their books come out of the red.

Answer 10

That's the day most retail businesses go from being in the red for the year into the black.

In other words, the first 37-ish weeks cover their overhead, their product costs, their taxes and loses; anything from here to NYE is their actual earnings.