Changes

Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, has evolved into a shopping day not only pervasive in the United States, but even other countries, which do not celebrate Thanksgiving, still using that day as their start of the holiday shopping season. While the growth of online shopping has transformed its significance, with now shopping deals online extending before and after Black Friday, Black Friday is still seen as the general beginning of the holiday season for many.

====Origin of Black Friday====

Black Friday may have its origins from the late 19th century and early 20th century, when department stores across the United States began to become not only larger but also more competitive. The term itself was not originally associated with shopping but with a major stock market crash on September 24, 1869. However, that meaning and event lost relevance over the course of the 20th century. In relation to Christmas, department stores, such as Macy's or Lord and Taylor, held annual parades on the day after Thanksgiving as part of their brand promotion and sales for the Christmas shopping period. Many people took the day off after Thanksgiving off, creating a type of free holiday vendors wanted to take advantage of.

====Later Developments====

By the early 2000s, Black Friday sales led more stores to move their opening times to be earlier. Some of the earliest are around midnight, while others open around 4 or 5 AM (Figure 2). Some stores attempted to open on Thanksgiving Day, effectively moving the start of the shopping season to Thursday. This has largely not worked well, as consumers were mostly interested in being with their family over Thanksgiving. Generally, however, stores have increasingly moved their Christmas shopping offerings to a much earlier date, some starting as early as the day after Halloween.