Before Black Friday: Fascinating Vintage photos show the Biggest Holiday Shopping Season at Macy’s in 1948

The term ‘Black Friday’ was first used in 1869, however, most of the people were unfamiliar with the term until the 1980s. Before the Black Friday there was a holiday shopping season. Macy’s was one of the biggest stores at that time with 14,000 employees which served 400,000 items to more than 250,000 eager shoppers at a time.

The marketing efforts about the holiday shopping season involved a giant pep rally, which includes harmonious rendition of “Jingle Bells.” Telephone operators prepared to respond to as many as six questions per minute. Plainclothes employee detectives trained to spot shoplifters from among the hordes. And clerks readied themselves to handle fluid pricing on that year’s hottest items from striped pyjamas to “simulated” pearls to Macy’s house-brand Scotch which fluctuated as many as five times per day as reports of competitors” pricing came in.

Here below are some amazing vintage photos that show what Biggest Holiday Shopping season at Macy’s looked like in 1948.

#1 Jane Pickens leads 9,000 Macy’s employees in ‘Jingle Bells’ during a giant rally designed to whip up the fever of salesmanship for the 1948 Christmas rush.

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#2 An employee clearing the package chute with his body.

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#3 An employee plowing through a pile of costume pearl necklaces that she will sell.

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#4 Scene outside Macy’s during the biggest holiday shopping season.

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#5 People gathering in the entrance.

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#6 Shoppers waiting to be allowed on the floor.

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#7 The sales floor.

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#8 Customers crowding around a counter of imitation pearls.

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#9 A customer examining a string of pearls.

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#10 A child with her doll.

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#11 Group of Santa Claus mascots sitting inside the department store.

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#12 Employees in the Shopping Service department assembling an order for a customer.

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#13 Employees refunding the money to customers who have brought back their merchandise.

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#14 Shoppers clamoring for coveted items.

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#15 Woman carrying shopping boxes in the course of the Macy’s caters to customers.

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#16 A woman looking at her reflection in the mirror in front of a young salesman.

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#17 Women trying on furs in the dressing room.

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#18 Employees having their temperature taken in the store’s hospital.

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#19 An employee cleaning up piles of debris after the Christmas shopping rush.

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