That should take a bite out of the sales this weekend, though Black Friday should still rank either number one or two in sales for the year. Motorists were focused and intent as they trekked to the Lehigh Valley’s malls and shopping centers, where sales and seasonal traditions awaited before the sun came up.
Advertisement
Both Wal-Mart and Target say Thursday shopping got Black Friday off to a good start.
More than 135.8 million customers plan to shop over the holiday weekend, according to the National Retail Federation. The full day was expected to total $1.7 billion, a 22 percent jump from the same period a year ago, the company said. “I feel the economy has picked up in a few areas, and I felt the pull of the holiday spirit”, she said.
Tupelo resident Lynn Gray bought a floor jack for her husband. “The deals have been tremendous”, said China Lloyd as she was shopping for her kids.
“We’ve been doing this a long time, at least five or six years”, Williams said.
Why venture out into the retail madness?
Instead of purchasing sweaters and video games, millennial consumers are spending more on trips to the spa, to the theater or even to Europe.
He said: “Last year I think the industry embraced Black Friday with tremendous enthusiasm and dived in”.
“I’m coming out to get the holiday started, coming out to get the best prices”, Fairfield resident Matt Garcia Sr., said as he approached a Best Buy store.
For a specialty store like H.H. Turner Jewelers, Black Friday isn’t normally a busy day, said Store Manager Cathy Bouknight.
“There’s a generation that cares more about experiences than they do things”, Barr said “Millennials really are transforming that overall shopping experience”. “It pulls our family together”.
As 5:30 a.m. rolled around, Greenville’s Black Friday was a little more subdued than many would have thought.
Some stores, including Goody’s and JC Penney, opened their doors on Thanksgiving.
Online sales are definitely becoming a bigger factor. Abode predicted that for the first time, mobile devices would overtake desktop computers on Thanksgiving to drive 51 percent of online shopping visits.
With so many people shopping online, there was no repeat of the unseemly scuffles witnessed in high street stores previous year as customers fought over big-ticket items.
Advertisement
“From the perspective of the amount of discounting that’s going on, the over-inventory situation, it seems like there are going to be a lot of great deals in the next 45 days”, said Bob Drbul, a retail analyst at Nomura Securities International.
