Will Southpoint Mall Parking be a nightmare on Black Friday 2011? (Cary: shoppers, electric)
Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, CaryThe Triangle Area
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I'm the same age as you and I remember it too from when I was a kid!
I actually had always thought of it was a "Yankee" term because as I say, we never called it anything but "The Day After Thanksgiving",even when I worked in retail, until about 10 years ago and then it was always Northerners using it. My stepmother was one of the first I knew who used it all the time and yup, she spent most of her adult life in Pennsylvania. Interesting to know the full story
I saw a flyer in the paper today about "Black Saturday" at Sears
I didn't hear the term until about 10 years or so ago, either. I didn't hear it during the sixties, seventies, eighties, and early nineties when I lived up North.
I enjoyed staying home -- and Walmart spokesman saying it was a good day for them. OMG.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Francois
I actually had always thought of it was a "Yankee" term because as I say, we never called it anything but "The Day After Thanksgiving",even when I worked in retail, until about 10 years ago and then it was always Northerners using it. My stepmother was one of the first I knew who used it all the time and yup, she spent most of her adult life in Pennsylvania. Interesting to know the full story
I saw a flyer in the paper today about "Black Saturday" at Sears
I spend some time working retail back in the 90's which included some "Black Fridays". Will never shop on Thanksgiving weekend as a result.
Honestly, there absolutely nothing I want or need that would warrant my dealing with the insanity and heinousness. And, I love to shop. I just don't do well with crowds.
I actually had always thought of it was a "Yankee" term because as I say, we never called it anything but "The Day After Thanksgiving",even when I worked in retail, until about 10 years ago and then it was always Northerners using it. My stepmother was one of the first I knew who used it all the time and yup, she spent most of her adult life in Pennsylvania. Interesting to know the full story
I saw a flyer in the paper today about "Black Saturday" at Sears
Got a NewEgg email ad today promoting "Black November."
The day's name originated in Philadelphia, where it originally was used to describe the heavy and disruptive pedestrian and vehicle traffic which would occur on the day after Thanksgiving. Use of the term started before 1966 and began to see broader use outside Philadelphia around 1975. Later an alternative explanation began to be offered: that "Black Friday" indicates the point at which retailers begin to turn a profit, or are "in the black"
Black Friday as a term has been used in multiple contexts, going back to the nineteenth century, where it was associated with a financial crisis in 1869 in the United States. The earliest known reference to "Black Friday" to refer to the day after Thanksgiving was made in a 1966 publication on the day's significance in Philadelphia:
JANUARY 1966 -- "Black Friday" is the name which the Philadelphia Police Department has given to the Friday following Thanksgiving Day. It is not a term of endearment to them. "Black Friday" officially opens the Christmas shopping season in center city, and it usually brings massive traffic jams and over-crowded sidewalks as the downtown stores are mobbed from opening to closing.
The term Black Friday began to get wider exposure around 1975, as shown by two newspaper articles from November 29, 1975, both datelined Philadelphia. The first reference is in an article entitled "Army vs. Navy: A Dimming Splendor," in The New York Times:
Philadelphia police and bus drivers call it "Black Friday" - that day each year between Thanksgiving Day and the Army–Navy Game. It is the busiest shopping and traffic day of the year in the Bicentennial City as the Christmas list is checked off and the Eastern college football season nears conclusion.
The derivation is also clear in an Associated Press article entitled "Folks on Buying Spree Despite Down Economy," which ran in the Titusville Herald on the same day.
Store aisles were jammed. Escalators were nonstop people. It was the first day of the Christmas shopping season and despite the economy, folks here went on a buying spree. ... "That's why the bus drivers and cab drivers call today 'Black Friday,'" a sales manager at Gimbels said as she watched a traffic cop trying to control a crowd of jaywalkers. "They think in terms of headaches it gives them."
The term's spread was gradual, however, and in 1985 the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that retailers in Cincinnati and Los Angeles were still unaware of the term.
Years ago, before Southpoint and Triangle Towne Center, it was impossible to travel anywhere near Crabtree, from Thanksgiving to Christmas. I don't see that anymore, which is good for me since I use Glenwood Avenue a lot!
I went to Southpoint yesterday about 5:30. I got front row parking! Yes, it was still crowded but by that time, the folks that got there very early were leaving and so I was able to go right to the front of the store and snag my parking place!
I got to Southpoint Mall at 8:45 am. I parked near the department store entrances, got the 3rd spot(someone was pulling out). After wandering around for an hour and deciding I needed nothing, I drove around to the Movie theatre side and AGAIN got great parking. I find the key to parking is to wait patiently and someone or the other will leave soon enough. Shopped some and left after 45 minutes. I was back home at 10:30 AM. NOW I can say 'yes I did go shopping on Black Friday". In general, I have always had good luck with parking at SOuthpoint.
What I bought was an Oral-B electric toothbrush -- from Amazon.
Black Friday - Bah Humbug!
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