Kelli Grant/CNBC—Just a few years ago, 5 a.m. was the magic hour for Black Friday, when shoppers crowded into just-opened stores for doorbuster deals. Now, it’s often a ghost town. The Target in Hackensack, N.J., was quiet at that time, with no music playing and only a handful of shoppers wandering the aisles. Most of […]
Jeff Green Partners
Western Pa. retailers enthused about early shopping action
Thomas Olson/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review—If Western Pennsylvania merchants are any indication, retailers will record modestly merrier sales this shopping season. Managers of independent stores — from menswear to toys to women’s boutiques — said Black Friday foot traffic was running ahead of last year’s and sales volumes were up somewhat. “It’s been busy. We’ve been jammed all […]
Consumers had plans. Merchants have hopes.
Justine Griffin/Sarasota Herald-Tribune—Beth McCullagh and her daughter ran to the entrance of Macy’s — not to be the first in line for doorbuster deals, but to get out of the 50-degree weather. McCullagh and her daughter are career Black Friday shoppers. Together, they’ve managed the lines, the crowds and the long early-morning hours spent in […]
Shoppers react to new Black Friday
Michael DiVittorio/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review—Early store openings made some traditional Black Friday shopping experiences happen a bit sooner, but Western Pennsylvania retailers overall still are expecting a modestly merrier sales season. Hundreds of shoppers packed sidewalks and parking lots in the Waterfront on Thanksgiving to find the best deals. While the Black Friday tradition reserved sales for […]
A Super Bowl of shopping with extra hours and new rules this year
Joan Verdon/The Record—Retailers like to refer to this weekend as the Super Bowl of shopping. This year, however, it will be a whole new ballgame. A number of the leading players are adding extra shopping time with stores opening on Thanksgiving and round-the-clock operations into Friday night. At Willowbrook Mall in Wayne, where most of […]
Black-and-blue retailers bet on ‘Gray Thursday’
Brian O’Connor/The Detroit News—If you want to know why malls and big-box retailers are opening as early as 6 a.m. on Thanksgiving, the answer is the same you’ll hear from the throng of shoppers surging through the doors for those blockbuster holiday deals: fear of missing out. Retailers know that opening earlier won’t prompt shoppers […]
