Black Friday is the name given to the day following Thanksgiving Day in the United States which is traditionally the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. On this day, most of the major retailers open extremely early and offer promotional sales to kick off the holiday shopping season, similar to Boxing Day sales in many Commonwealth Nations.
The day's name originated in Philadelphia, where it originally was used to describe the heavy and disruptive pedestrian and vehicle traffic which would occur on the day after Thanksgiving. Use of the term started before 1961 and began to see broader use outside Philadelphia around 1975. Later an alternative explanation began to be offered: that 'Black Friday' indicates the point at which retailers begin to turn a profit, or are 'in the black'.
Black
Friday is not an official holiday but many of the non-retail organizations
observe this day as a holiday along with Thanksgiving, giving their
employees the day off, thereby increasing the number of potential
shoppers. It has routinely been the busiest shopping day of the year
since 2005, although news reports, have described it as the busiest shopping day of the year for
a much longer period of time.
In recent years, retailers have been trending towards opening on Black Thursday, occurring Thanksgiving evening. In 2011, Walmart began its holiday sale at 10 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day for the first time. In 2012, Walmart will begin its Black Friday sales at 8 p.m. the day before on Thanksgiving; stores that are normally open 24 hours a day on a regular basis will begin their sales at this time, while stores that do not have round-the-clock shopping hours will open at 8 p.m. Competitors Sears and Kmart will also be opening at 8 p.m. on Thursday night, while Target and Toys 'R' Us will be opening at 9 p.m. Other retailers, such as Lord & Taylor are also opening on Thanksgiving for the first time.
For
many years, it was common for retailers to open at 6:00 am but in
the late 2000s many had crept to 5:00 or even 4:00. This was taken to a
new extreme in 2011, when several retailers (including Target, Kohls,
Macy's, Best Buy, and Bealls) opened at midnight for the first
time. In 2012, Walmart led several other retailers in announcing it
would open its stores at 8:00 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day, prompting
calls for a walkout among some workers.
Check out more about Black Friday at - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Friday_%28shopping%29