Black Friday hasn’t always been infamous for it’s enormous crowds and overall volatile environment. It has been one of the most popular and busiest shopping days of the year in the United States for many years. This shopping day is constantly changing and it has changed drastically over the years, especially with the technology we have today.

The day after Thanksgiving day originally gained popularity as a shopping day among people in New York in 1924 because of the advertisements posted during the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. The name “Black Friday” didn’t come until years later in the 1950’s, and by the 1970s and 1980 ot became known as the day that businesses went from “in the red” to “in the black.” As the hype around the day grew, the crowds grew and by the 1990s Black Friday became its own unofficial holiday. Black Friday is an unofficial holiday, but California and some other states have established “The Day After Thanksgiving,” as a holiday for state government employees.

There are many legends and myths about how Black Friday started, but this is the true story. In fact, this tale many not be as nice as many retailers would have you believe. Back in the 1950s, police in Philadelphia used the term to describe the havoc that occurred the day after Thanksgiving when crowds of shoppers and tourists overan the city to see an Army-Navy football game that was on that Saturday every year. The officers had to take extra shifts to manage the crowds and traffic. Shoplifters would use this chaos as an apt opportunity to steal products from within many stores.

Since then, it has morphed into a four day shopping event including: Small Business Saturday/Sunday and Cyber Monday. Store started opening earlier and earlier on Black Friday at times such as midnight, and even late on Thanksgiving Day. Countless people shop on Black Friday, but more and more people are taking advantage of the online deal on Cyber Monday. Lots of people would rather stay at home and shop on their many devices such as phones, computers, tablets etc., instead of braving the storm that is the Black Friday mayhem.

In the final analysis, Black Friday has started from a phrase that one man said, and has no become a cultural phenomenon. It is interesting to see how much something can change throughout the years.