Though I have been working in retail since high school, Black Friday only became an annual milestone in my professional life during the autumn of 1985. I had recently graduated from college and was working in my first grown-up job, as an "Executive Trainee" at the May Company Department Stores. It was my first Christmas and I was posted in Hartford, Connecticut at (what was then) G. Fox, Westfarms Mall. I was the Department Manager in the Women's Department: dresses, sweaters and blouses.
After weeks of pre-holiday anticipation, racks-and-racks of garments, mountains of cartons from Asia, and brutal incursions from the (perpetually unhappy) buyers in the main office, Thanksgiving was almost here! My final task on Wednesday night, Thanksgiving Eve, before leaving for the holiday: to post the price point "sale" signs on each rack and table. $28.00 "cotton blend" sweaters were now $19.99 (and still ridiculously profitable). "Josephine" poly bow blouses, once marked $22.00, were now $14.99. And acrylic rib knit turtlenecks (several customers told me, "they generate their own heat") were piled-high at $17.99.
The signs were placed and the tables were piled-high. The store was closed for the evening. As the store lights were cut, I reflected on the order and calm in my department—while anticipating the mayhem, mess and profit to come in the next five weeks.
"Black Friday" got it's name because (or so the story goes...) this was the first day on which an American store would became profitable for the year—the day on which the company's accountants could switch-out their red ink for black ink (and thus be "in the black"). The theory of Black Friday insists that all of a retailers profits are generated during the month between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I'm not sure it this could be true: one month's work makes-up for eleven months' losses?
This handsome black vase was hand-thrown by Edward Thomas Radford for Pilkington Royal Lancastrian (English, circa 1920's - 1930's). Most unusual is the satin black glazing, a color option I have never seen from this maker (and is unexpected on a vase of this size). The softness of the glaze, however, gives it a softer, slightly metallic feeling—which keeps the vase from becoming overpowering. Please click on the photo above to learn more about it.
Though our Greenwich Village store is now permanently closed, LEO Design is still alive and well! Please visit our on-line store where we continue to sell Handsome Gifts (www.LEOdesignNYC.com).
We also can be found in Pittsburgh's historic "Strip District" at Mahla & Co. Antiques (www.mahlaantiques.com) or in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania at The Antique Center of Strabane (www.antiquecenterofstrabane.com).
Or call to arrange to visit our Pittsburgh showroom (by private appointment only). 917-446-4248