This hurt customer turnout on Black Friday last year, a trend analysts and consultants expect will repeat this year.
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But the crowds didn’t ebb.
“They ruin Thanksgiving for people”.
Ten years ago, online shopping wasn’t quite the animal it is now.
The freezing temperatures, heavy winds and constant rainfall did not get in the way for some Oklahoma shoppers on the hunt for the best Black Friday deals.
By 6 a.m. Friday most stores in and around Kentucky Oaks Mall in Paducah had been open for hours, some without pause since 6 p.m. Thursday. That’s up from nearly 134 million shoppers past year, the organization said in its annual preliminary survey of the shopping weekend.
Crowds have been thin at U.S. stores on Black Friday as shoppers responded to early holiday discounts with caution and thousands protested in Chicago over the police shooting of a black teen.
For this shopper who drove from Holdenville for Black Friday in the metro, she has this advice for shoppers battling more winter weather this weekend. That’s 22 percent more than past year, which indicates that Cyber Monday could become the go-to shopping day for Americans.
Digital research firm comScore predicts online sales in the November-December period will increase 14 percent this year to $70 billion.
Shelly Drezek says, “We actually normally go to the Mall of America and do the shopping there”.
Kimberley Turner, a mother in her forties who was shopping with her young son said she found the discounts less compelling.
Meanwhile, at Northgate Mall – the Hixson mall also owned by CBL Properties – it was a similar story.
“They’ve got a really good deal on X-Box Ones”, Godfrey said.
For shoppers who didn’t get a head start on their holiday shopping, the store manager said Best Buy will be offering more doorbuster deals throughout the day on Black Friday.
A broad retail index.DJUSGT was down 0.15 percent in abbreviated trading.
Saturday there’s a particular focus on buying from your local small businesses. Known as Black Friday, the day retailers are said to go “in the black” after being “in the red” all year long.
“We hope you ll join us outside today”, it said, instead promoting the Twitter hashtag #OptOutside.
“Kimora: “That things are half off”. It’s just a different sale for every hour. “But I know that the feedback we’ve gotten has been mostly positive from our guests”.
Almost 100 million shoppers are expected to participate, according to the National Retail Federation.
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“We have a Starbucks in the store and they stayed busy all night, too”, Satterfield said. She recently bought a new auto, refrigerator, dishwasher and two vacuums through early-bird holiday deals at stores.
