No sooner had the Thanksgiving meals been digested than the shopper hit the stores for bargain Black Friday deal. Thirty million Americans shopped online or in stores on Thanksgiving Day, while 99.7 million will shop on Black Friday, the National Retail Federation estimates.
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This year, the NRF says sales for the period from Black Friday through December 24 are expected to represent approximately 19 percent of the retail industry’s annual sales of $3.2 trillion. Online sales also jumped by 22 percent on Thanksgiving Day, from midnight to 5 p.m. EST. This year’s crowds were smaller than last year’s, she said.
Another shopper, Tyler Shimer of Montrose, says he’s been Black Friday shopping for the past few years.
“Sales today have been equal to last year’s sales”, Brian Thedford, general manager of Don’s TV and Appliance, said.
Adobe, which monitors online sales, said digital retail sales overall were on track to be up 22 percent over last Thanksgiving Day and likely exceeded $1.7 billion. They were hunting for a 49-inch television for $149 that they planned to put in the cabin, they said.
Despite the availability of shopping by Internet, as well as a steady rain, several hundred shoppers lined up at the Kohl’s store in Chicago’s Vernon Hills to await its 6 p.m. opening Thursday. However, many shoppers told us they aren’t too pleased with the Black Friday instore deals.
William Taubman, chief operating officer at Taubman Centers, which operates more than 20 US malls, said that without a clear trend in fashion, there’s less of an urgency to buy.
Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, a Democratic candidate, wasn’t advertising any deals, but did tweet to his followers on Friday to check out his campaign store if they were shopping. She said, “You know I think since everything opened yesterday, so early, I think people you know, came here then”. “I’m looking at what some online sites are charging for shipping. A lot of times, there’s a lot of pre-shopping done online”.
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Friday didn’t start out busy at the Florida Mall in Orlando.
