2008 Woodie Awards
Will Green Friday Spark the Economy?
Kristina Dillon
Issue date: 11/1/08 Section: News
It's a day most retail workers dread to hear, a day some consumers wait all year for - Black Friday.
Or as more recently known as Green Friday- the busiest shopping day of the year. Its day after Thanksgiving, when some stores open their doors at 5 a.m. with lines of eager customers waiting on long lines sometimes in the frigid weather draped in warm blankets just hours after they gobbled up their hearty dinner.
As the doors open up, anticipated shoppers run to their prospective bargains or "doorbuster deals."
"We go every year. It's like an after-Thanksgiving family tradition," said Joseph Figerello, a Mercy sophomore. "We pick a store, line up, and run."
"It's crazy but fun," said Figerello, who plans on running for an Xbox 360 when doors open this year.
It is unsure exactly who coined the term Black Friday. Some say it was originated from the early 1960s when newspapers in Philadelphia would refer to the day after Thanksgiving as Black Friday in reference to the heavy traffic on that day.
Others say that the New York Times coined the phrase in the 1960s to refer to the beginning of the period when retailers are in the black. Black Friday was the day when most business started to show profits in their books, which is known as "going into the black."
Before the word was ever used to refer to the super retail holiday, it was famously referred to as Sept. 24, 1869. The New York Gold Exchange crashed in the peek of the Civil War (also known as the Fisk Gould Scandal.) This was when the market still used gold under President Ulysses S. Grant.
The word black then became the word in front of a day that suffered from a financial crisis, for example Black Tuesday and Black Thursday after the stock market crash in 1929.
To get away from this negative connotation the media has more recently been referring to the day as Green Friday.
Others see the name as a subliminal message. Some view it as Christmas season is a "go," just like a green traffic light.
Retailers have been encouraging the use of the word green to encourage shoppers to spend their cash instead of using credit cards on that day.
As of Oct 20, ads for the shopping holiday have already hit the web at non affiliate site blackFriday.info.
"It's horrible that they are thinking about opening up at midnight," said Chris Frank a Mercy senior who works in a retail store at the Palisades Mall. "I dread that day every year."
According to consumeraffairs.com, in 2004 more than $8 billion was spent in sales on Black Friday. Yet with the economy in such a poor state, most experts feel those numbers are unreachable this year.
Consumers also should take note Cyber Monday is on the rise. It's the Monday immediately following Thanksgiving weekend when most stores are now featuring online deals anticipating those who could not or choose not to make it to the stores on Friday and have returned to work on that Monday.
Or as more recently known as Green Friday- the busiest shopping day of the year. Its day after Thanksgiving, when some stores open their doors at 5 a.m. with lines of eager customers waiting on long lines sometimes in the frigid weather draped in warm blankets just hours after they gobbled up their hearty dinner.
As the doors open up, anticipated shoppers run to their prospective bargains or "doorbuster deals."
"We go every year. It's like an after-Thanksgiving family tradition," said Joseph Figerello, a Mercy sophomore. "We pick a store, line up, and run."
"It's crazy but fun," said Figerello, who plans on running for an Xbox 360 when doors open this year.
It is unsure exactly who coined the term Black Friday. Some say it was originated from the early 1960s when newspapers in Philadelphia would refer to the day after Thanksgiving as Black Friday in reference to the heavy traffic on that day.
Others say that the New York Times coined the phrase in the 1960s to refer to the beginning of the period when retailers are in the black. Black Friday was the day when most business started to show profits in their books, which is known as "going into the black."
Before the word was ever used to refer to the super retail holiday, it was famously referred to as Sept. 24, 1869. The New York Gold Exchange crashed in the peek of the Civil War (also known as the Fisk Gould Scandal.) This was when the market still used gold under President Ulysses S. Grant.
The word black then became the word in front of a day that suffered from a financial crisis, for example Black Tuesday and Black Thursday after the stock market crash in 1929.
To get away from this negative connotation the media has more recently been referring to the day as Green Friday.
Others see the name as a subliminal message. Some view it as Christmas season is a "go," just like a green traffic light.
Retailers have been encouraging the use of the word green to encourage shoppers to spend their cash instead of using credit cards on that day.
As of Oct 20, ads for the shopping holiday have already hit the web at non affiliate site blackFriday.info.
"It's horrible that they are thinking about opening up at midnight," said Chris Frank a Mercy senior who works in a retail store at the Palisades Mall. "I dread that day every year."
According to consumeraffairs.com, in 2004 more than $8 billion was spent in sales on Black Friday. Yet with the economy in such a poor state, most experts feel those numbers are unreachable this year.
Consumers also should take note Cyber Monday is on the rise. It's the Monday immediately following Thanksgiving weekend when most stores are now featuring online deals anticipating those who could not or choose not to make it to the stores on Friday and have returned to work on that Monday.
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