Why do they call it black friday?

I'm pretty sure razcal2267 has the correct official answer, but speaking as someone who works retail - I'm going to say it's called Black Friday because it's the most wretched day ever! Instead of spending time with my family during the Holiday season, I had to be at work by 5:45 AM yesterday and didn't leave until 4:00 PM. I had one break to run to the restroom, and that was it. Aren't the holidays grand?...

This expression isn't used in my country either (atleast not that I'm aware of). The first I had heard of it was when people were posting discussions about shopping on black friday...I'm interested to hear about why it's called this too..

They go from in the red money wise to in the black make a profit

I didn`t heard about that before i see this discussion . Verry intresting , + rated everyone ! Thanks.