Shoppers are reflected as a Black Friday sale sign is displayed on a window at an outlet mall in Carlsbad, California, U.S., Nov. 25, 2025. Mike Blake/REUTERS
Retailers in the United States are gearing up for Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, which kicks off the holiday shopping season that typically account for a third of U.S. retailers’ annual profits.
Why Is It Called ‘Black’ Friday?
In the early 1960s, police officers in Philadelphia described the chaos that resulted from a large number of suburban tourists coming into the city to begin their holiday shopping as “Black Friday”.
The phrase did not describe a positive boost in retail sales until the late 1980s, when merchants spread the narrative of being “in the red” until the day after Thanksgiving, when massive sales allowed them to turn a profit, or put them “in the black”.
How Much Are Shoppers Expected to Spend?
The National Retail Federation (NRF) expects 186.9 million Americans to shop in the five days between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday, which would be a record, surpassing last year’s 183.4 million.
