Amazing vintage photos show what it was like to go holiday shopping in New York City 100 years ago

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Amazing vintage photos show what it was like to go holiday shopping in New York City 100 years ago

Woman and young boy looking at window of shop where Xmas toys are displayed

Library of Congress

Window shopping was the early-1900s equivalent of cruising Cyber Monday sales.

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  • Cyber Monday was the biggest online shopping day in US history, with Americans spending an estimated $6.6 billion.
  • But 100 years ago, locals of cities like New York would battle large crowds while shopping on busy streets.
  • Photos pulled from the Library of Congress' archives show what it was like to shop in New York in the early 1900s. A lot has changed since then.


This year, online shopping surged during both Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

But in the not-so-distant past, shoppers were out in droves at brick-and-mortar stores, waiting in long lines and sometimes even getting caught in all-out brawls over limited-release items.

While the term "Black Friday" wasn't officially coined until the 1960s, when Philadelphia police used it to refer to the day after Thanksgiving, hectic holiday shopping has been around for much longer than that.

Below, 17 photos show how those living in New York City between 1900 and 1915 shopped and stocked up for the holiday season.

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