虽然黑色星期五一般指感恩节后的第二天因为刚好是周五。但其实黑色星期五只是一个统称，从11月23号到29号这段时间都称为黑色星期五。虽然周五这天不是法定节日，但一般这天公司都给员工放假。 为什么称为黑色星期五呢？ 有两个说法，一个是早在1960年代，费城的警察用来形容周五这天特别堵的交通。另一个说话是商家想在这一天销售大量库存以此来扭转亏损的局面使做账本时可以用黑色笔而不是红笔来写（红笔表示亏损）。
    今年很多商家开门比往年还要早。像卖儿童玩具的全美连锁店 toys "r" us 周四感恩节这天晚上10点就开门了。沃尔玛午夜12点开门， 百货店 Kohl's 凌晨3点开门，另外几家百货店 JcPenney, Macy, Sears 凌晨4点开门。 黑色星期五的促销主要是针对中低收入阶层的。 虽然今年顾客数量比往年增加，但是居高不下的失业率和美国的经济不景气，很多顾客只是看并等待更低的打折。 今年每人平均消费额为330美元，比往年少了些。很多针对中低收入的店家今年的销售量也比往年少。想反一些针对高收入及奢侈品的店家销售量却比往年增加， 像蒂凡尼，高级百货店 Sakes 和 Nordstrom 的销售额都比往年高出5%到6%。
   今年最畅销的5件商品是：

高清等离子电视 40英寸 298.99美元 Westinghouse 40-inch 1080p 60Hz LCD HDTV on sale for $298.99 


笔记本电脑 15.6英寸，2G内存 198美元  eMachines 15.6" Laptop w/2GB Memory, 250GB Hard Drive, Windows 7 on sale for $198.00


一款游戏机 67美元 Nintendo Wii Fit Plus Bundle on sale for $67.00


32英寸的高清等离子电视 198美元 Emerson 32" LC320EM1 720p 60Hz LCD HDTV on sale for $198.00


GPS 导航仪 4.7英寸 99.99美元 Magellan RoadMate 3045 4.7-inch GPS Navigation System on sale for $99.99


5件行李 39.99美元 Prodigy Hudson 5-pc. Luggage Set on sale for $39.99



一对来自宾州的中国夫妇 凌晨5点就开始在纽约一家百思买门口排队

下面是一些相关资料

Black Friday Historic Stats

	2010*	2009	2008	2007
# of Shoppers	200M	195M	172M	147M
% of Holiday Sales	23.5%	22.7%	19.4%	15.1%
$ Per Shopper	$330	$343	$372	$347

Black Friday is the Friday after Thanksgiving. Falling as early as the 23rd and as late as the 29th of November, Black Friday is not an official government holiday but many employees do receive the day off. The increased number of shoppers creates the busiest shopping day of the year. To accomodate the rush, many retailers open as early as 4am and offer "loss leaders" and limited quantity sales to entice people to their stores. The term "Black Friday" has two meanings. In the 1960's, "Black Friday" was used by police in Philadelphia in reference to the heavy traffic on that day. Prior to that, "Black Friday" was set to mark the first day that a retailer had sold through enough inventory and turned a profit for the year, putting them "in the black" according to the old by-hand accounting system of using black ink to indicate a profit and red ink to indicate a loss.