INDIANAPOLIS — While the Black Friday moniker never made it into Barbara Boyd’s 1982 report, the veteran consumer reporter was tasked with talking to Hoosiers during the busiest shopping day of the year: the day after Thanksgiving.
Consumers were coming off a tumultuous few years of record-setting inflation and high interest rates. But by 1982, things were beginning to settle.
Boyd talked with shoppers of all types. That included those being more cost conscious.
“We’re really cutting down this year,” said one woman. “Things are too hard to put all your money into Christmas. You’ve got to watch your pennies nowadays.”
But she also spoke to the diehard consumer.
“I always buy a lot,” said another man. “I can’t help it. It’s just the American way to buy a lot.”
Retailers expressed optimism for the shopping season with electronic games driving sales.
