BLACK FRIDAY 2021

For millions of people, Black Friday is the time to do some serious Christmas shopping -- even before the last of the Thanksgiving leftovers are gone! Black Friday is the Friday after Thanksgiving, and it's one of the major shopping days of the year in the United States, falling anywhere between Nov. 23 and 29. In 2021, Black Friday falls on Nov. 26. While it's not recognized as an official U.S. holiday, many employees have the day off, except those working in retail.

In which U.S. city did the term Black Friday originate?

The term "Black Friday" originated in Philadelphia. In the early 1960s, Philadelphia police griped about the congested streets, clogged with motorists and pedestrians heading to the Army-Navy football game and looking for deals post-Thanksgiving, calling it “Black Friday.” According to History.com, Philly's biggest department stores tried to steer away from the negative name and call it “Big Friday,” but the rebranding didn’t stick.

In a non-retail sense, it also describes a financial crisis of 1869: a stock market catastrophe set off by gold spectators who tried and failed to corner the gold market, causing the market to collapse and stocks to plummet.

Why is it called Black Friday?

The term “Black Friday” (in the retail sense) was coined in the 1960s to mark the kickoff to the Christmas shopping season. “Black” refers to stores moving from the “red” to the “black,” back when accounting records were kept by hand, and red ink indicated a loss and black a profit. Ever since the start of the modern Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 1924, the Friday after Thanksgiving has been known as the unofficial start to a bustling holiday shopping season.