Were you among the crowds camped outside retail stores early this morning, hoping to cash in on Black Friday deals? Perhaps you can even see yourself reflected in these Christmas ornaments hanging in New York City’s Macy’s department store. The day after Thanksgiving is big business for retailers. Last year, 174 million Americans shopped on Black Friday weekend, according to the National Retail Federation, presumably moving retailers’ balance sheets from red (losses) to black (profits). But the term ‘Black Friday’ has a darker history. It was originally used to describe a financial crisis in 1869, and later adopted by Philadelphia police to describe post-Thanksgiving chaos at department stores in their city. Retailers later co-opted the phrase ‘Black Friday,’ giving it more positive connotations–a shift toward profitability at the start of the crucial holiday shopping season.
Let the holiday shopping commence
Today in History
More Desktop Wallpapers:
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Hemingway’s Keys
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Porto Cathedral, Portugal
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Looking back on 150 years of rail travel
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Saint Andrews Day
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Kinder Scout, Peak District National Park, England
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Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
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Giving Tuesday
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Take me to the river
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European Day of Parks
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Góða ólavsøku, from the Faroes!
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Grand finish of Le Tour
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Pont dArcole over the Seine river, Paris, France
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Hohenzollern Castle near Stuttgart, Germany
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Cloudy with a chance of enlightenment
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Summer winds down in the Hamptons
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Legacy mural in Philadelphia
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The Monastery of Roussanou, Greece
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Folegandros Island, Cyclades, Greece
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Darwin s Arch
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It’s National Dolphin Day!
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Swim city
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A. M. Foster Bridge in Cabot, Vermont
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Iguazu Falls at the border of Argentina and Brazil
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Total solar eclipse
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A day to celebrate the sun
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50 years of Earth Day
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There’s a dog in there somewhere
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Yi Peng Festival in Chiang Mai, Thailand
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Moody skies over Valletta
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Independence Day