Did you know… that the name “Black Friday” didn’t start with shopping at all?
Long before bargain hunters lined up at dawn, “Black Friday” was a label for calamity. The financial Black Friday of 1869, when two speculators crashed the U.S. gold market, is a classic example of the term being used for bad days—not big sales.
Philly Cops vs. the Crowds
A chaotic post‑Thanksgiving city… Philadelphia, 1950s. The day that gave Black Friday its name!
Jump to the 1950s, and the day after Thanksgiving earned its modern meaning. Some employers griped that workers kept “calling in sick,” but the name really took off in Philadelphia, where police dreaded the annual shopping surge colliding with the Army–Navy football weekend.
Gridlocked streets, packed sidewalks, endless calls—it was a true “Black Friday” for the officers stuck directing traffic all day.
Local merchants hated the gloomy nickname and attempted a cheerier replacement: “Big Friday.”
Shockingly, the public did not fall in love.
Back in the Black
By the 1980s, retailers nationwide leaned into a friendlier explanation—that Black Friday marked the moment their books went “back in the black.” It wasn’t historically accurate, but shoppers embraced it, and the rest is retail legend.
Today, Black Friday is part tradition, part sport, and part spectacle. But its roots? A chaotic day of traffic, football fans, and post-turkey “sick days.”
As the holiday season kicks off, remember: the best gifts come from right here at home. Shop local, support Ventura County makers, and keep our community thriving.
Photo credits: Smithsonian Magazine; Philadelphia Inquirer / Wikimedia Commons
