The complete guide to Black Friday

If you’re living in the UK, you’ll probably not be too familiar with Black Friday, the American shopping phenomenon where major retailers slash prices by up to 75% in order to encourage customers to spend in their stores. Black Friday always follows the American Thanksgiving Day which is always celebrated on the forth Thursday of November. In recent years the tradition of Black Friday has been growing in Britain and tomorrow is predicted to be the biggest Black Friday ever seen on this side of the pond.

BLACK FRIDAY WAS ORIGINALLY A BAD THING

Black Friday originally referred to the stock market crash of 1869, where two gold speculators cornered the gold market and held onto their gold assets, artificially driving the price higher – until it eventually crashed.

OCCASIONALLY THINGS CAN GET NASTY

Unfortunately Black Friday is the cause of violent incidents and there have been many cases of fights between shoppers, theft and arrests. In the USA Black Friday is heavily policed, whether it needs to be in the UK remains to be seen.

RETAILERS DETERMINED THANKSGIVING AND BLACK FRIDAY

Originally it was a 19th century presidential prerogative to announce Thanksgiving on the last Thursday of November, but as this can fall as late as the 30th, retailers petitioned Franklin D Roosevelt to make Thanksgiving on the forth, rather than the occasional fifth, Thursday of November.

THE PHILLY POLICE GAVE IT THE NAME BLACK FRIDAY

The police came up with name Black Friday because of the black smog that the increased traffic in Philadelphia caused. Black Friday therefore owes its name to inner-city pollution and hasn’t ever been able to shake the moniker, despite an attempt to rebrand it as ‘Big Friday’.

WHAT DEALS ARE ON THIS YEAR?

In the UK there are an array of deals that will get you speeding to the shops. Tesco are offering 50% off an HD-ready LED TV and 70% off a leading brand coffee machine. At Asda a Polaroid 40 inch LED TV is down from £219 to £139 and the 8 inch Samsung Galaxy note has been reduced by £100. John Lewis is offering reductions of up to 50% and Sainsbury’s, Game and Currys PC World are also offering significant reductions.