The Sunday News
Clementine Phulu, Sunday News Reporter
IT was a hive of activity as shoppers hopped from shop to shop looking for items who prices were slashed in observance of Black Friday.
Some clothing and furniture shops had snaking queues as early 7 AM with people intend on buying selected items at reduced prices.
The Sunday News crew went around Bulawayo CBD and observed that a large number of people have joined this shopping frenzy.
Not only the big shops, some of the upcoming businesses in Bulawayo such as the nail bars, saloons joined this Black Friday and reduced their prices too.
Mrs Nomalanga Mguni who was at an electronics shop said she was there to buy a plasma television that she had been longing for, for years.
“I have been waiting for this day to come and today is the day I want to walk away from this shop with a television, water heater and maybe a watch for my husband as its price dropped to three dollars.
Mrs Mguni said she missed last year’s Black Friday festive season shopping as she heard about it late and did not budget for it.
“I have been counting down for this day not just counting but also budgeting for a few products I wanted to get during this shopping spree and I’m happy that this day has come, we are getting items at low prices,” she said.
Black Friday was first coined in 1869 when two investors caused a market crash by driving up the price of gold. As a result, the stock market dropped 20%, foreign trade stopped, and farmers witnessed a huge drop in corn and wheat value.
It wouldn’t be until the late 1980s that the term became synonymous with shopping. Retailers reinvented the “Black Friday” name to reflect the backstory of how accountants used different color ink — red for negative earnings, and black for positive earnings — to denote a company’s profitability. Black Friday became the day when stores finally turned a profit.
It wouldn’t be until the late 1980s that the term became synonymous with shopping. Retailers reinvented the “Black Friday” name to reflect the backstory of how accountants used different color ink — red for negative earnings, and black for positive earnings — to denote a company’s profitability. Black Friday became the day when stores finally turned a profit.
