Despite a sluggish economy, Black Friday sales exceeded expectations for local retailers.
It is traditionally the biggest shopping day of the year, and for many retailers, the day after Thanksgiving starts the shopping season that determines profitability for the year. As the recession plagues consumer confidence, experts predicted sales would remain steady compared to last year — but some retailers say they were pleasantly surprised.
“I had a much better day than what I had planned,” said Russ Dillingham, manager of J.C. Penney in Greenwood Mall. “I had a game plan for that day, but the sales we had were well above the game plan I had.”
Several stores opened early Friday, enticing customers with steep discounts and door busters. And for some, the discounts worked. Lines of shoppers snaked around retail buildings beginning Thanksgiving night.
“Black Friday went really great for us. We had a steady stream that morning and a long line around the building,” said Brandy Stinson, assistant manager at Target in Bowling Green. “There were quite a few more people in line than last year. It took about an hour to get in.”
In fact, Friday’s sales trumped earnings from the same day last year, she said. The big sellers included the iPod Touch, video game systems and televisions. The store sold out of its big-ticket items that day, Stinson said.
“I think maybe on our end we had some good items on sale and some really good discounts,” she said.
For locally owned stores, Black Friday sales also heavily impact business. At Lucy’s Fine Gifts in Bowling Green, owners “were very pleased” with weekend sales, co-owner Patti Dorris said.
“Actually, for those two days, it was better than last year,” she said. “I saw a lot of new customers this year.”
This weekend, customers snatched a variety of items, from Christmas decorations to handbags and jewelry, Dorris said.
“We’re a gift shop,” she said, “so (holiday sales) are extremely important.”
At Heart Strings in Bowling Green, this weekend’s sales increased from last Black Friday sales, owner Kathy Scariot said.
“It’s definitely been positive,” she said. “We have never seen a downturn … we expect to stay strong. We expect to have increases.”
The gift shop recently added some new products which helped sales, but customer traffic still would have been heavy regardless of the additional brand names, she said.
At Coach House Gifts in Greenwood Mall, customers piled through the doors Friday morning.
“As soon as we opened the gates, we knew we were kind of in trouble,” said Sonya Wimpee, local coordinator for Hallmark, the shop’s parent company. “We were kind of amazed; we weren’t expecting it.”
This year, stores opened at different times. Some retailers, such as Toys “R” Us, opened at midnight Friday and others opened a few hours later. Coach House Gifts opened at 6 a.m., giving customers enough time to snag items at other stores, Wimpee said.
“Overall, (we) had a good weekend here. Friday just started it all,” she said.
Nationwide, retail sales rose 0.5 percent compared to last Black Friday, according to news reports.
And this year, retailers heavily depend on Internet sales. On Thursday and Friday, online sales reportedly increased 11 percent compared to last year.
Clusters of shoppers are expected to surf their favorite retail Web sites today in observance of “Cyber Monday.” Several retailers will offer special online discounts today in an attempt to further boost holiday sales, and some retailers have declared Dec. 17 as Free Shipping Day — participating stores will wave shipping costs for items purchased online that day and delivery is guaranteed by Christmas Eve, according to the promotional Web site, www.freeshippingday.com.
Some participating stores include Zappos, Toys “R” Us, Sears, Macy’s, Kmart and American Eagle Outfitters. It’s an effort to generate sales between Black Friday and Christmas.
“November and December are two of our biggest months of the year,” Dillingham said. “The importance hasn’t let up at all. We’ve still got 24 very important days (ahead).”
But if Black Friday’s an indication, retailers say they anticipate booming sales until Christmas.
“They say the economy’s bad,” Wimpee said. “But we don’t see it.”
The b desire for tiffany jewelry on sale could be seen as my vain and florid dreams and I will lose interesting in others only for this.
best tiffany shop in the world,discount tiffany , tiffany jewelry sale.
While tiffany bracelets. is a grand company which stands for another kind of US beauty, the company tiffany on sale really does a lot to better our life. Thank you very much for your understanding. May Jesus bless you.
I do not mean that your frank gehry are not fantastic, but the eyes of women all the time since they highlight charm bracelet?