|
| Shoppers wait in line for the 8 p.m. opening of the Times Square Toys-R-Us store, Thursday, Nov. 22, 2012, in New York. While stores typically open in the wee hours of the morning on the day after Thanksgiving known as Black Friday, openings have crept earlier and earlier over the past few years. Now, stores from Wal-Mart to Toys R Us are opening their doors on Thanksgiving evening, hoping Americans will be willing to shop soon after they finish their pumpkin pie. |
This season appears to mark the end of Black Friday as we know it.
For
decades, stores have opened their doors in wee hours of the morning on
the day after Thanksgiving known as Black Friday. But this year, that
changed when major chains from Target to Toys R Us opened on
Thanksgiving itself, turning the traditional busiest shopping day of the
year into a two-day affair.
That means that
shoppers who wanted to fall into a turkey-induced slumber could still
head out to stores early on Black Friday. Others could head straight
from the dinner table to stores on Turkey Day. And stores were able to
attract both groups by offering door buster sales from $179 40-inch
flat-screen TVs to $10 jeans at different times of the day.
Sam
Chandler, 55, and his wife, Lori Chandler, 54, were a part of the early
group. By the time they reached the Wal-Mart in Greenville, S.C. early
Friday, they had already hit several stores, including Target and Best
Buy. In fact, they had been shopping since midnight.
"We've learned over the years, you have to stand in line early and pray," Sam said.
Stu
and April Schatz, residents of Rockland County, N.Y., preferred to get a
later start. They went to the Shops at the Garden State Plaza mall in
Paramus, N.J., which didn't open until 7 a.m. on Black Friday, because
they didn't want to deal with the crowds that show up for openings late
night on Thanksgiving or midnight on Black Friday.
"It's so much more civilized going in the morning," said April Schatz, a teacher. "We wanted to enjoy our evening."
The
earlier hours are an effort by stores to make shopping as convenient as
possible for Americans, who they fear won't spend freely during the
two-month holiday season in November and December because of economic
uncertainty. Many shoppers are worried about high unemployment and
whether or not Congress will be able to reach a budget deal by January
before a package of spending cuts and tax increases known as the "fiscal
cliff" takes effect.
At the same time,
Americans have grown more comfortable shopping on websites that offer
cheap prices and the convenience of being able to buy something from
smartphones, laptops and tablet computers from just about anywhere. That
puts added pressure on brick-and-mortar stores, which can make up to 40
percent of their annual revenue during the holiday shopping season, to
give consumers a compelling reason to leave their homes.
That's
becoming more difficult: the National Retail Federation, an industry
trade group, estimates that overall sales in November and December will
rise 4.1 percent this year to $586.1 billion, below last year's 5.6
percent growth. . But the online part of that is expected to rise 15
percent to $68.4 billion, according to Forrester Research.
As
a result, brick-and-mortar retailers have been trying everything they
can to lure consumers into stores. Some stores tested the earlier hours
last year, but this year more retailers opened their doors late on
Thanksgiving or at midnight on Black Friday. In addition to expanding
their hours, many also are offering free layaways and shipping, matching
the cheaper prices of online rivals and updating their mobile shopping
apps with more information.
"Every retailer
wants to beat everyone else," said C. Britt Beemer, chairman of
America's Research Group, a research firm based in Charleston, S.C.
"Shoppers love it."
Indeed, some holiday
shoppers seemed to find stores' earlier hours appealing. Julie Hansen, a
spokeswoman at Mall of America in Minneapolis, said 30,000 people
showed up for the mall's midnight opening, compared with 20,000 last
year. She noted that shoppers are coming in waves, and sales aren't just
being shifted around.
"This is additional dollars," Hansen said.
About
11,000 shoppers were in lines wrapped around Macy's flagship store in
New York City's Herald Square when it opened at midnight on Black
Friday. That's up from an estimated 9,000 to 10,000 shoppers who showed
up the store's midnight opening last year.
Joan
Riedewald, a private aide for the elderly, and her four children ages
six to 18, were among them. By that time, she already had spent about
$100 at Toys R Us, which opened at 8 p.m., and planned to spend another
$500 at Macy's before heading to Old Navy.
"I only shop for sales," she said.
But
some shoppers decided to stick to traditional Black Friday shopping
hours. Joe Russell was hunting for a great deal on a large flat-screen
TV and went to the Best Buy store in Watertown, Mass., shortly after
midnight on Friday. But the long line of shoppers gunning for
door-buster promotions deterred him from braving the freezing
temperatures. So Russell, 47, returned to the store after sunrise and
got a different TV for "a decent price."
"This is the earliest I've ever shopped," he said.
Elizabeth
Garcia, a sales representative from the Bronx borough of New York City,
also decided on a later shopping start at about 3:30 a.m. at Toys R Us
in New York's Times Square. As a result Garcia, who has three children
ages three, five and seven, believes she dodged some of the lines on
Thanksgiving when the store opened at 8 p.m. That's good news since the
crowds got to her last year, and she almost got into a fight over a
Tinker Bell couch.
"This year I wasn't about to kill people," she said.
Meanwhile,
Nicole Page of Bristol, Conn., shopped with her sister at a Wal-Mart in
Manchester, Conn., at about 4:45 a.m. on Black Friday out of tradition.
Page, who recently finished school and started working as a nurse,
bought an electric fireplace for $200 that she said was originally $600.
Her shopping cart also had candy canes, a nail clipper for her dog and
other stocking stuffers.
"We try to make a tradition of it. It's kind of exciting," she said.
