Retailers know it as Black Friday, when their balance sheets
move out of the red and into the black.
The Friday after Thanksgiving, when many people have the day off
and choose to take advantage of stores’ holiday sales, is one of
the busiest shopping days of the year.
Local stores are opening earlier and staying open later in the
hopes to accommodate the early-morning door busters and the
late-night scavengers.
Retailers know it as Black Friday, when their balance sheets move out of the red and into the black.
The Friday after Thanksgiving, when many people have the day off and choose to take advantage of stores’ holiday sales, is one of the busiest shopping days of the year.
Local stores are opening earlier and staying open later in the hopes to accommodate the early-morning door busters and the late-night scavengers.
The Hollister Kmart is opening its doors at 6 a.m. Friday and staying open until midnight, said store manager Chris West.
Extra merchandise will stock the shelves, with special sale and featured items many customers are looking for, he said.
“Different toy items, specials in jewelry and Christmas decorations,” West said, “because a lot of people do decorating this weekend.”
The store will have at least twice the normal amount of staffing to help accommodate the high number of shoppers.
“We’ll pretty much have almost everyone working some type of shift to deal with the demand,” he said.
For people who want to shop when there are the least amount of customers in the store, the mid-afternoon is the best time, West said.
“It should be relatively crazy the first two to three hours, from about 6 a.m. to 9 a.m.,” he said. “Between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m., and then the last couple of hours (of the day) are a little slower than normal.”
The Hollister Target has been preparing for Friday for two to three weeks, said store manager Larry Morgan.
“Every team member will be in the building,” Morgan said.
Hot items many customers will be looking for are toys and electronics, and for shoppers who want to get the best deals and the most selection, the earlier they get there the better, Morgan said.
For people who want to shop when there are fewer customers, the evening is the way to go, he said.
On Friday only, Target will be open from 6 a.m. until 11 p.m., and from 8 a.m. until 11 p.m. for the rest of the holiday season.
While the downtrodden economy has had a definite effect on retailers, things seem to be looking up.
“People appear to be optimistic and are buying quite a bit more this year than last year,” Morgan said.
Small downtown businesses don’t usually see as much of a rush as the larger corporate chains, said Timber and Textiles owner Suzie Crump.
“Maybe this year we’ll be pleasantly surprised, though,” she said.
Crump has her store ready for the season with holiday merchandise and her window display, but other than that Black Friday is just another day.
Sheila Stevens, the owner of She’s downtown, is having a free buffet set up for shoppers as a enticement to come in, she said.
The store has been busy on Black Friday in past years, and Stevens doesn’t expect this year to be any different.
“We do well during the season and Friday,” she said. “A lot of girls are tired of cooking and want to do some shopping.”
