Black Friday, otherwise known as Retail Black Friday, takes place on the day following the Thanksgiving holiday in 2013. Black Friday is traditionally one of the year’s two biggest shopping days, with the other one being the day following Christmas, when hordes of shoppers on their holiday vacation descend on stores in order to exchange merchandise and use the gift certificates that they were given as Christmas presents.
Black Friday is known as that for a reason. In the world of accountancy, the color red signifies a loss and the color black signifies a profit. As far as many retailers are concerned, the Christmas holiday sales season often represents as much as half to possibly even three-quarters of their full yearly sales. Retailers are often actually losing money until the holiday sales commence. Holiday sales formally start on the day after Thanksgiving, which means that Black Friday is the turning point from loss to large profits.
Retailers and customers alike seem to greatly enjoy Black Friday, which means that it is a tradition that is unlikely to die off any time soon.
Funnily enough, the day after Thanksgiving has also been chosen as the date for another holiday, which is one that is almost the antithesis of Black Friday. This holiday is known as Buy Nothing Day, which is a 24-hour moratorium on shopping created by people who are fed up of commercialism. Given the popularity of Black Friday, Buy Nothing Day does not seem to have been much of a success!
Lance Grooms
