Black Friday continues to be one of the busiest shopping time of the year, but holiday profits that last through the month and the convenience of online shopping have lessened its effects. At sunrise, hundreds of customers gathered outside a department store. The newest video game console is in a frenzied demand. Fistfights over a desired flat-screen television. Americans awoke from their post-Thanksgiving stupor to begin their holiday shopping early, crowding into stores and large box stores to grab significant discounts on items like technology for years. However, at a certain place, Americans started caring less about Black Friday. Although one of the busiest shopping days of the year is still here, the actual day’s cultural significance has been diminished by the ease of online shopping and the widespread use of” Black Friday” discounts well before the day itself. Here’s what you need to know about Black Friday and the time of savings: Why is it called’ Black Friday’? Black Friday began in Philadelphia in the 1960s when Philadelphia police officers voiced their disapproval of the large-scale crowds that poured in for the city’s annual Army-Navy soccer game, which was traditionally held on Thanksgiving Day. Merchants saw a golden opportunity to take advantage of the masses, so they embraced the phrase in order to describe when businesses make a profit, even though they had to counteract the negative association with the 1929 Black Tuesday stock market crash. Before much, as need for savings grew, shops started competing with each other to discover who could start the earliest, going from 5 a. m. on Friday, to evening, to starting on Thanksgiving itself. In recent years, that craze has reversed, in piece because of employee engagement. Lastly, Black Friday stopped referring to a single day. The post content is retrievable with difficulty. In your browser’s settings, kindly help Browser. Thank you for your patience while exposure is verified. If you are in Audience mode please leave and log into your Times accounts, or listen for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while exposure is verified. Now a customer? Register in. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.