Gift Giving Guy

Welcome to Black Friday, the traditional kickoff of the holiday shopping season. Actually, November 23 is the earliest Black Friday can occur, so retailers have more shopping days until Christmas than usual (32 days). My wife and I were not among the brave legions that marched on the big-box stores in frigid darkness. Instead, we did some online shopping today from the comfort of home.

Black Friday could be named for its frantic nature, similar to the chaotic Black Tuesday from the 1929 Stock Market crash. Or the day’s name might originate from accounting conventions: positive income entries were marked in black ink (and losses in red ink). Regardless, Black Friday is usually not the highest sales volume day or even the busiest day for most retailers. Typically, the day with highest sales and customer traffic is the last Saturday before Christmas, which is December 22, 2007. There is no name I’m aware of for this procrastinator’s crunch day, so I suggest Panic Saturday.