FIVE FUN FACTS ABOUT BLACK FRIDAY & SHOPPING IDIOMS

 

PHRASAL VERBS: SHOPPING

TODAY'S...

American marketing invention which has extended throughout the world. Initially the day after Thanksgiving in the USA and the start of the Christmas shopping season with huge discounts. 

Black Friday History

For millions of people Black Friday is the time to do some serious Christmas shopping --even before the last of the Thanksgiving leftovers are gone! Black Black is the Friday after Thanksgiving, and it's one of the major shopping days of the year in the United States -falling anywhere between November 23 and 29. While it's not recognized as an official US holiday, many employees have the day off -except those working in retail.

The term “Black Friday” was coined in the 1960s to mark the kickoff to the Christmas shopping season. “Black” refers to stores moving from the “red” to the “black,” back when accounting records were kept by hand, and red ink indicated a loss, and black a profit. Ever since the start of the modern Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 1924, the Friday after Thanksgiving has been known as the unofficial start to a bustling holiday shopping season.

In the 1960's, police in Philadelphia griped about the congested streets, clogged with motorists and pedestrians, calling it “Black Friday.” In a non-retail sense, it also describes a financial crisis of 1869: a stock market catastrophe set off by gold spectators who tried and failed to corner the gold market, causing the market to collapse and stocks to plummet.

[Taken from blackfriday.com]

Click here to previous posts on this blog about this issue:

- 2011 post.

- last year's post.

SHOPPING EXPRESSIONS

Here are some common expressions & vocabulary you can use when going shopping.

BLACK FRIDAY 2015

Today is this year's Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving in the United States... but not only. Black Friday has become bestselling date throughout the world. Even here in Spain we start hearing about "Black Friday's offers and sales".

+ info:
- BLACK FRIDAY 2015 info from The Telegraph.
- IF YESTERDAY WAS THANKSGIVING DAY IN THE U.S.A., TODAY'S BLACK FRIDAY, previous post from this blog.

Video:

GOING SHOPPING

This post deals with the different places where you can go shopping:

- Shopping centres / malls (AmE)

- Supermarkets.

- Department stores.

- Local shops

The different ways in which they are organized and things that can be found in them.

SHOPPING CENTRES/MALLS

- THE DIFFERENT SECTIONS IN A SHOPPING CENTRE/MALL:

SUPERMARKETS

- INSIDE A SUPERMARKET:

- THE DIFFERENT SECTIONS IN A SUPERMARKET:

-SUPERMARKET ORGANIZATION:

- SUPERMARKET OBJECTS:

DEPARTMENT STORES

- DEPARTMENT STORE SECTIONS:

SHOPS

- EXERCISE: NAMES OF SHOPS PRACTICE.

MONEY FOR SHOPPING

Devoting a post to things to do with money and shopping. Above basic vocabulary. Below different charts on the topic:

- EXERCISE PRACTICE:

IF YESTERDAY WAS THANKSGIVING DAY IN THE U.S.A., TODAY'S BLACK FRIDAY

Black Friday is the Friday following Thanksgiving Day in the United States, which is the beginning of the traditional Christmas shopping season. The term dates back to at least 1966, although its usage was primarily on the East coast. The term has become more common in other parts of the country since 2000. Because Thanksgiving falls on the fourth Thursday in November in the United States, Black Friday occurs between the 23rd and the 29th of November. According to Reuters, in 2007, 135 million people participated in the Black Friday shopping rush, more than turned out to vote in the 2008 United States presidential election, which recorded the largest voter turn out in history.
Black Friday is not an official holiday, but many employees have the day off as part of the Thanksgiving holiday (with the exceptions of those employed in retailing, health care, and banking), which increases the number of potential shoppers. Retailers often decorate for the Christmas and holiday season weeks beforehand. Many retailers open extremely early, with most of the retailers typically opening at 5AM or even earlier. Some of the larger retailers such as Sears, Best Buy, Macy's, Toys "R" Us, and Walmart have been reported to open as early as midnight on the start of Black Friday in localized areas and remain open for 24 hours throughout the day until midnight the following Saturday. Upon opening, retailers offer doorbuster deals and loss leaders to draw people to their stores. Although Black Friday, as the first shopping day after Thanksgiving, has served as the unofficial beginning of the Christmas season at least since the start of the modern Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 1924, the term "Black Friday" has been traced back only to the 1960s.
The term "Black Friday" originated in Philadelphia in reference to the heavy traffic on that day. More recently, merchants and the media have used it instead to refer to the beginning of the period in which retailers go from being in the red (i.e., posting a loss on the books) to being in the black (i.e., turning a profit).

Video on BLACK FRIDAY: