Black Friday 2025 Date, Meaning, Significance, And History: Black Friday has become one of the most talked-about shopping days of the year, and 2025 is no different. While most people know it for its big discounts and bustling crowds, the day has a far more interesting story behind it. From its unusual origins to the role it plays in modern retail, Black Friday has travelled a long way to become what it is today. Before diving into the deals and excitement, it’s worth understanding how this tradition began, and why it continues to shape the way we shop.
Every year, Black Friday happens on the Friday just next day after Thanksgiving in the United States.
In 2025, this day falls on November 28. For many retailers and shoppers, that day marks the official start of the holiday shopping season, a time when stores launch big discounts and deals, and buyers look for bargains ahead of Christmas.
Historic Financial Crisis: The term ‘Black Friday’ originally had nothing to do with shopping. Back in 1869, two financiers tried to corner the US gold market, when their scheme collapsed, the resulting panic caused a dramatic crash in markets. That Friday acquired a gloomy reputation.
1950s & 1960s Philadelphia: One of the Blogs from the Library of Congress by Donna Scanlon states, “Near as I can determine, the use of Black Friday to represent the beginning of the holiday shopping season began sometime in the 1960’s or 1970’s in Philadelphia and had to do with the amount of traffic on the streets from vehicles and people.”
Because of this that day the whole city was flooded with a lot of shoppers, tourists, crowds, heavy traffic, overcrowded stores, and long hours for police made it a chaotic day.
Red To Black Theory: By the 1980s, retailers across the US reinterpreted Black Friday in a more positive light. According to them, it symbolised the day when stores finally turned a profit for the year: they moved from being in the red (losses) to in the black (profits), thanks to the holiday shopping rush.
That rebranding helped make Black Friday a central fixture in retail marketing, and turned it into a shopping spectacle.
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According to Cambridge Dictionary, Black Friday means, “the Friday after Thanksgiving, when shops reduce the price of goods in order to attract customers who want to start their Christmas shopping.”
Shopping And Deals: Black Friday remains one of the busiest shopping days of the year. Around this time, retailers both online and offline, put up major sales, discounts, and promotions to attract bargain hunters.
Global Reach: Though Black Friday originated in the US, nowadays many countries that don’t celebrate Thanksgiving also join in with their own sales and deals, shopping festivals along with new years shopping deals.
Holiday Shopping Season Beginning: The timing makes Black Friday the unofficial start of the holiday-shopping or gift-buying season. For many families, it’s their chance to snap up early bargains before Christmas.
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Black Friday holds significance, both for shoppers and retailers:
For consumers, it offers a rare chance to buy popular items or gifts at deeply discounted prices.
For retailers, especially in a competitive and crowded market, Black Friday can make a huge difference: strong sales during this period often contribute substantially to their annual revenue.
It also signals the start of the festive retail season, when people begin thinking about gifts, celebrations and year-end shopping.
At the same time, the event reflects broader economic and social patterns: how marketing, consumer behaviour, and globalisation have turned a phenomenon into an international event.
Whether you’re hunting a bargain or just observing the hype, understanding Black Friday’s history and significance helps make sense of why the world treats one Friday like a retail holiday.
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