Black Friday

On Friday shoppers across the country rush to the early-bird specials on “Black Friday”, which marks the first official day of the Christmas shopping season in the US. One storeowner said “If you do well on Black Friday, it's a good indication that you've got the right items and the right marketing to attract the customer for the rest of the season.” Many people come for the sale items and also buy other full priced items. At a Wal-Mart the parking lot was filled and cars were parked in neighboring lots. They had 21 registers open with 10 people in each line and at the electronics section they had 4 registers and 20 people in each line. Black Friday is the day many companies turn a profit, or go in the “black”, for the rest of the year.

138 years ago Black Friday was a word that reminded people of September 24, 1869 when the stock market crashed. It was caused by an attempt by a group of financial speculators, including James Fisk and Jay Gould, who tried to take over the gold market.