Is Black Friday always the biggest shopping day of the year?

“Black Friday,” the day after Thanksgiving in the U.S., is the unofficial start of the Christmas shopping season, when millions of people rush to stores for half-price TVs and video game consoles, some even camping out the night before or days in advance.

Let’s start with the first myth, about the name itself. “Black Friday,” according to most, means the day that businesses’ profits move from being “in the red” (negative) to “in the black” (positive) for the year. I’m not sure how a store could operate with no profits for nearly eleven months of the year, but that’s the perception. This positive spin was no doubt generated by retailers to mask its true origins. The term was actually coined by Philadelphia police in the 1960s to describe the terrible traffic and crowds that would make their life miserable every year.

Black Friday is a busy shopping day but rarely has it been the biggest of the year, or even among the top five. The number one shopping day has traditionally been the Saturday before Christmas. Black Friday has moved up the list in recent years and even taken the top spot, so this myth may become reality if the trend continues. But, the advent of online shopping, “Cyber Monday,” and stores that open on Thanksgiving have begun to leech away many Black Friday deal seekers.