Black Friday didn’t begin as a holiday — it began as chaos.
In the 1950s, Philadelphia police used the term to describe the traffic jams, sidewalk gridlock, and overwhelming crowds that appeared the day after Thanksgiving. Retailers hated the name, tried to rebrand it as “Big Friday,” but the public kept calling it Black Friday — and it stuck.

The more “feel-good” idea — that stores finally go from “in the red” to “in the black” — came later as a marketing spin, but the true origin is pure crowd madness.

Over the decades, Black Friday transformed into a global mega-event. As online shopping exploded, countries across Europe, Asia, and the Middle East built their own versions:

• White Friday (Egypt)
• Yellow Friday (UAE & Saudi Arabia)
• Blessed Friday (Pakistan)
• Black Week (Europe)

By 2025, Black Friday is no longer a single day — it’s an entire global shopping season. Deals roll out for weeks, mobile purchases dominate, and Amazon drives a massive share of the world’s online holiday shopping traffic.

This year, U.S. shoppers alone are expected to break the $100 billion mark — making Black Friday one of the most influential retail engines on the planet.