Jennifer Beecher, left, and sister-in-law Ashley Beecher, right, enjoy shopping on Black Friday at Best Buy, Friday, November 26, 2021, in Houston. This year was the first time the couple came before dawn to shop. NS
Marie D. De Jesus / Houston Chronicle / AP
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Marie D. De Jesus / Houston Chronicle / AP
Jennifer Beecher, left, and sister-in-law Ashley Beecher, right, enjoy shopping on Black Friday at Best Buy, Friday, November 26, 2021, in Houston. This year was the first time the couple came before dawn to shop. NS
Marie D. De Jesus / Houston Chronicle / AP
On Black Friday this year, almost everything went as usual.
Malls and boutiques report crowds that are moderate in size, if not inundated with people who used to jostle for the latest toys and electronics – online shopping is already too common for many That’s now, and the discounts are all down and spread in the weeks leading up to Christmas, both on site and in store.
Products that are in short supply due to scarce supply, high gas and food prices, and labor shortages that make it more difficult to satisfy customers are also causing frustration for shoppers.
Christian MacDonald, the first in a line of 75 people waiting for a store in Costa Mesa, California Target to open, passed away empty-handed.
“I came here because I thought that as of Black Friday they would have the new OLED Switch in stock, but they didn’t,” said MacDonald, who waited an hour and a half to get his hands on the sought-after Nintendo. Yes. video game console. “Then I’ll just go home, I guess.”
The country’s largest shopping mall, the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, said nearly 100,000 people had arrived by early Friday afternoon, more than double last year but slightly below the 2019 figure.
“We’re off to a great start,” said Jill Renslow, Senior Vice President of Mall of America.
However, staffing issues have affected many retailers and restaurants, affecting the Mall of America as well. It has to cut the hours it’s open.
However, Black Friday retail sales were up 29.8 percent through mid-afternoon, according to Mastercard SpendPulse, which tracks all types of payments, including cash and credit cards. This is higher than the 20% growth forecast for the day. Steve Sadove, senior adviser at Mastercard, said the numbers speak for “consumer power.”
Overall, holiday sales are expected to increase this year. The National Retail Federation predicts sales will grow 8.5% to 10.5% in both November and December, after growing 8% in those months in 2020.
Black Friday shoppers, wearing face masks, carry bags at Citadel stores in Commerce, California, Friday, November 26, 2021.
Ringo HW Chiu / AP
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Black Friday shoppers, wearing face masks, carry bags at Citadel stores in Commerce, California, Friday, November 26, 2021.
Ringo HW Chiu / AP
While Black Friday has always been imagined by Americans as a day of frenzied shopping, it has lost ground over the past decade as stores open on Thanksgiving and shopping shifts to Amazon and other retailers. other online retailers. Stores have diluted the day’s importance even further by promoting Black Friday discounts more and more.
The pandemic has led to many Retailers close shop on Thanksgiving Day and discounts on their websites, starting in early October. That continues this year, although there are also deals in stores.
At the Fashion Center in a northern Virginia suburb, window signs advertise 50% off boots at Aldo, 40% off same-priced items at J.Crew and 30 off. % at Forever 21. At the Capital Mall in Olympia, Washington, stores are advertised with sale items ranging from 35% to 50% off.
DealNews.com analyst Julie Ramhold says big box retailers like Walmart don’t include “door-to-door” deals in their ads. And clothing chains like Victoria’s Secret and Gap are having a harder time managing supply. Victoria’s Secret recently said 45% of its holiday merchandise is still stuck in transit.
Supply chain bottlenecks are a big concern this year, and both stores and shoppers are trying to find alternatives. Some of America’s biggest retailers are rerouting goods to less congested ports, even chartering their own ships.
Macy’s CEO Jeff Gennette said the company was prepared. “We are looking deep and we are ready,” he said, noting a 20% increase in inventories compared to last year.
But many of the sales floors looked different than in years past, when the tall stacks of merchandise used to be on display. At Macy’s in Manhattan, the shoes are stacked on top of each other, making it inaccessible to shoppers.
At Willowbrook Shopping Center in Wayne, New Jersey, lines formed outside Pandora and Bath & Body Works around midday, while some small shops were mostly empty. At the Fashion Center shopping center in suburban DC in the afternoon, Macy’s was packed with people making it difficult to navigate around the store, while Forever 21 security guards had to help clear the congestion.
Shoppers wait for doors to open at Walmart on Black Friday, in Dartmouth, Mass., on November 25, 2016. Retailers kick off the unofficial shopping season on Friday, November 26. year 2021.
Peter Pereira / The Standard-Times / SCMGs / AP
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Shoppers wait for doors to open at Walmart on Black Friday, in Dartmouth, Mass., on November 25, 2016. Retailers kick off the unofficial shopping season on Friday, November 26. year 2021.
Peter Pereira / The Standard-Times / SCMGs / AP
Tim Clayburn went shopping at the Fashion Center on Friday morning because he wanted to make sure he could get the gifts he wanted for his loved one.
“Everybody is so worried about not having your stuff shipped to you on time,” he says. “I want to just pick up my stuff so I don’t have to worry about shipping.”
Across the country, about three dozen people were queuing at a Best Buy store in the Denver area when it opened at 5 a.m., said shopper Edmond Kunath.
“It’s amazing how small the crowd was here this morning,” said Kunath, who is searching for deals on Apple AirPods and hard drives.
Stuart Applebaum, president of the Union of Departmental Stores, Wholesale and Retail, said retail workers are worried about their safety because of frustrated shoppers and thin staff, said Stores should provide security and training on how to handle angry shoppers.
An employee at Zara in Fashion, who declined to be named, said the store appeared to be understaffed and he had been stressed all morning. “This is the craziest thing I’ve seen in a long time,” he said.
At Macy’s in Manhattan, the pandemic is still in sight – staff wear masks and so are many shoppers – but there is also a sense of celebration of the joy of shopping, things are back to the way they were.
Carol Claridge of Bourne, England, has been going to New York for Thanksgiving week shopping for 15 years, but skipped it last year because of the pandemic. America reopen for tourists from the UK in early November when the country lifted its pandemic travel ban.
“We waited a long time to do this,” said Claridge, who was reviewing Macy’s first-floor beauty gift sets with a friend. “We’re picking whatever we see that we like. We call it our annual shopping trip.”
According to Aurelien Duthoit, senior adviser at Allianz Research, shoppers are expected to pay 5% to 17% more for toys, clothing, home appliances, TVs and other items on Black Friday. this year compared to last year, according to Aurelien Duthoit, senior adviser at Allianz Research, increased prices on TV. That’s because any discounts available will be applied to the already-higher priced merchandise.
Aniva Pawlowski, who was shopping for shoes and coats Friday at Macy’s in Manhattan, plans to spend $1,000 on holiday shopping, similar to previous years, though she’s concerned about gas prices , food and other expenses increased.
“Everything is expensive,” she said.
Online shopping remains huge, and sales are expected to grow 7% for the week after a strong 46% increase a year ago, as more people shopped at home, according to Mastercard. For the holiday season overall, online sales will grow 10% from a year ago, compared with a 33% increase last year, according to Adobe’s Digital Economy Index.
“What the pandemic has done to the retail industry, it’s forced them to become better digital retailers,” said Marshal Cohen of market research firm NPD Group.
That means the day after Thanksgiving isn’t the same anymore.
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David Zalubowski from Lone Tree, Colorado; Parker Purifoy from Arlington, Virginia; Manuel Valdes in Olympia, Washington; Bryan Gallion from Wayne, New Jersey; and Eugene Garcia from Costa Mesa, California contributed to this report.
