‘The economy is bad, but we still have to party’: Black Friday shoppers attack stores with a vengeance, some while sipping champagne
But despite those concerns, shoppers flocked to stores in droves on Black Friday, some even sipping champagne while searching for discounts on the day that traditionally kicks off the holiday shopping season.
Just outside New Orleans, shoppers flocked to Lakeside Mall to see what deals they could find. The mall is offering champagne to Black Friday traditionalists while they shop, as long as they have a receipt for at least $50.
“Sipping and shopping is the best, so I feel like it’s a New Orleans thing to do,” said Lacie Lemoine, who was shopping with her grandmother, an annual tradition they kept despite their shrinking budget.
“The economy is doing badly, but we still have to be happy,” said his grandmother, Sandra Lemoine. “Everyone has to do what they can with their own budget. That’s all.”
The massive Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, and the Westfield Garden State Plaza in Paramus, New Jersey, reported heavy customer traffic Friday and said Black Friday would again be their busiest day of the year.
“We’re off to a good start,” said Jill Renslow, Mall of America’s director of business development and marketing.
The line to enter the shopping and entertainment center began forming at 3 p.m. Thursday, Renslow said. About 14,000 visitors entered within an hour of the mall opening at 7 a.m., she said.
“We’re following one of our best Black Fridays ever,” she added.
Many retail executives have reported that customers are becoming more discerning and increasingly focused on bargains, while remaining willing to splurge on major occasions, creating a potential halo effect that could prevent financial worries from deterring holiday shoppers.
National Retail Federation CEO Matthew Shay said in early November that consumers tend to insulate holidays, whether religious, secular or banking, from outside concerns.
“It’s kind of a spending category that has a moat around it,” Shay said. “Shoppers see them as opportunities to celebrate. I think that really reflects the way the (winter) holiday season is. People save for it. They plan for it. They prioritize it.”
While some are cautious about this year’s Christmas spending, others are not. Metairie, Louisiana resident Denise Thevenot says this year is no different. “I wish I could say I did, but no, we’re just blowing it like we do every year. We’ll worry about it tomorrow, right? I have the receipts to show you.”
Marshal Cohen, chief industry advisor at Circana, a market research company, visited several shopping centers from Long Island and New Jersey to New York. He noted high traffic and said the centers were getting busier as Black Friday continued.
Cohen said Target has drawn lines for free gift bags for first-time shoppers, but overall, “Black Friday as we know it is over,” he said. “There’s no sense of urgency.”
According to Target, which aims to reverse declining sales, an average of 150 shoppers lined up at its stores for bags filled with what it describes as “goodies.” The discounter distributed the bags to the first 100 customers who showed up when it opened at 6 a.m.
At Macy’s Herald Square flagship store in New York, customers who came in droves shortly after the store opened at 6 a.m. discovered deep discounts on clothing, shoes, linens and cosmetics. The shoe department has everything reduced by up to half.
Nicholas Menasche, 19, of Queens, New York, was shopping with his mother for shoes and clothes and planned to head to Best Buy for video games. Menasche, an intern at a bank, said he expects to spend about $1,200 this year on holiday shopping, about the same amount as last year.
“It’s a great tradition,” he said. “The stores open very early.”
Westfield Garden State Plaza allowed customers to arrive an hour early instead of making them wait outside in freezing weather, but stores didn’t open until 7 a.m. as scheduled, marketing director William Lewis said. Gen Zers were mostly early customers, but older customers came in later, he said.
“People are definitely buying,” Lewis said. “Most people walk around with a shopping bag. »
Buyers seem to have done research in advance and “know exactly where they’re going,” he said.
Although Black Friday still reigns supreme as a magnet for in-store shopping, the ease of browsing and buying gifts online has eroded the event’s singular importance. Online shopping now accounts for more than 30% of total holiday sales, up from 15% in 2012, according to the National Retail Federation.
Online sales growth has also been robust so far. From November 1 to 23, U.S. consumers spent $79.7 billion, 7.5% more than a year earlier, according to web tracking and analytics platform Adobe Analytics. They spent an additional $6.4 billion online on Thanksgiving Day, an increase of 5.3% from last year, while taking advantage of better-than-expected deals, the company said.
“Obviously there’s uncertainty,” Michelle Meyer, Mastercard’s chief economist, said ahead of Black Friday. “Consumers are feeling nervous. But right now, that doesn’t seem to be changing how they present themselves this season.”
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Smith contributed from Metairie, Louisiana.
