To those who are less fanatical about Black Friday, the fact that more major stores such as Macy’s, Target and Best Buy opened at midnight or on Thanksgiving Day itself was inconvenient to say the least. But die-hard Black Friday shoppers pushed forward with elaborate shopping plans on Friday, the latest sign of just how far people will go to get a good deal in the weak economy.
A record number of shoppers were expected to head out to stores across the U.S. this weekend to take advantage of discounts of up to 70 percent. For three days starting on Black Friday, 152 million people are expected to shop, up about 10 percent from last year, according to the National Retail Federation.
Thanksgiving weekend is huge for retailers, particularly Black Friday, so called because of the accounting practice of recording losses in red and profits in black. Over the past six years, Black Friday was the biggest sales day of the year, and it is expected to keep that crown this year, though shoppers seem to be procrastinating more every year, and the fate of the holiday season is increasingly coming down to the last few days.
Last year, the Thanksgiving shopping weekend accounted for 12.1 percent of overall holiday revenue, according to ShopperTrak, a research firm. Black Friday made up about half of that.
ShopperTrak is expected to release sales data today on how Black Friday fared, but a better picture will emerge when major retailers report their November sales figures next Thursday.
Walmart, the nation’s biggest retailer, has taken steps in recent years to control its Black Friday crowds following the 2008 death of one of its workers in a stampede of shoppers. This year, it staggered its door-buster deals instead of offering them all at once.
Walmart spokesman Greg Rossiter said Black Friday was safe at most of its nearly 4,000 U.S., but there were “a few unfortunate incidents.”
On Thanksgiving night, a Walmart in Los Angeles brought out a crate of discounted Xboxes, and as a crowd waited for the video game players to be unwrapped, a woman fired pepper spray at the other shoppers “in order to get an advantage,” police said.
Ten people suffered cuts and bruises in the chaos, and 10 others had minor injuries from the spray, authorities said. The woman got away in the confusion, and it was not immediately clear whether she got an Xbox.
On Friday morning, police said, two women were injured and a man was charged after a fight broke out at an upstate New York Walmart. And a man was arrested in a scuffle at a jewelry counter at a Walmart in Kissimmee, Fla.
The incidents were attributed to two converging Black Friday trends: Crowds are getting bigger as stores open earlier and stay open later. At the same time, cash-strapped shoppers are competing for deals on a small number of gifts that everybody wants – tablet computers, TVs and game consoles like Xbox, Nintendo 3S and Wii.
“The more the people, the more the occurrences,” said Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst with market research firm The NPD Group.
Emmanuel Merced and his brother showed up at a Best Buy in New York at 3 p.m. local time on Wednesday so they could be the first in line when it opened at midnight Thursday to grab a Sharp 42-inch TV for $199.99, a PlayStation 3 with games for $199.99 and wireless headphones for $30.
Merced said he likes camping out for Black Friday and figured he saved 50 percent.
“I like the experience of it,” said Merced, who plans to spend $3,000 to $4,000 on gifts this season.
Millie Ayala, 28, and her two sisters barely got a chance to finish up their Thanksgiving feast before they headed to the Toys R Us in New York’s Times Square to get in line at 5:30 p.m., more than three hours before the store’s opening.
The three sisters carried printouts of the store’s ads and went over their strategy: Each would take one floor.
“Finances have been tough – things are getting more expensive,” said Ayala, a receptionist in New York. She has two daughters, ages 2 and 4, as well as nieces and nephews, and had saved about $220 for the shopping trip. “But with Black Friday, things are a lot more affordable.”
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