Fascinating Vintage Photos of the Biggest Holiday Shopping Season at Macy’s in 1948

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Even though the term Black Friday did not come into wide use until the 1980s, images of rowdy stampedes of eager shoppers have become typical on the day after Thanksgiving. Such a major event on the American retail calendar, the buzzing atmosphere of the biggest holiday shopping season was vividly shown through images of preparations at Macy’s – then the world’s biggest department store – for the 1948 occasion, which involved 14,000 employees to get 400,000 items ready for 250,000 anxious customers.

“Planning entailed both logistical and motivational efforts. At a giant pep rally, the morale of staff members was lifted by a 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 pajamas 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,” is how LIFE magazine describe the 1948 season at the store. 

Take a look through 18 fascinating black-and-white photographs taken by LIFE photographer Nina Leen:

An employee clearing the package chute with his body.
An employee plowing through a pile of costume pearl necklaces that she will sell.
Scene outside Macy’s during the biggest holiday shopping season.
People gathering in the entrance.
Shoppers waiting to be allowed on the floor.

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