Earlier Black Friday Openings Draw Crowds

By KAREN TALLEY

                   Daniel Acker/Bloomberg News

 

Shoppers vie for copies of video games at a Black Friday sale at a Wal-Mart store in Mentor, Ohio, on Thursday night.

Consumers were fast out of the gate to start the holiday shopping season, and there is growing sentiment that midnight -- or earlier -- openings may become the norm.
Coming off of what looks like a successful midnight opening, Macy's Inc. appears to be heading toward making the time a tradition. "My first impression is this is a positive step and we're attracting a different type of customer," one that is younger than the more traditional Black Friday customer, Chief Executive Terry Lundgren said in an interview.

Given the strong reception, after other retailers "get done looking at how it went this weekend and how successful it was I would think some of them will begin opening at midnight or even earlier," Jones Lang LaSalle retail chief Greg Maloney said.

Live from America's Malls

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From Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to Macy's Inc., the stores that opened at midnight or earlier appeared to draw the biggest crowds. While most shopping appeared to have been orderly, there was a reported incident at a Wal-Mart store in the Los Angeles area of a woman spraying pepper spray that resulted in about 20 injuries, most from people stampeding to get away from her.
Best Buy Co., which had a midnight opening, had a promotion on a $200 42-inch Sharp TV that "was a showstopper for certain" and helped drive "good traffic" in the television department, Best Buy Chief Executive Brian Dunn said in an interview.

Best Buy plans to use "a number of very strong promotions" and a marketing strategy that uses online deals in addition to those in-store to try to keep the momentum going, Mr. Dunn said.
"A lot of people looked like they wanted to hit late night rather than early morning," said Charlie O'Shea, retail analyst for Moody's Investor Service.
Online shopping also appeared to be strong, with Thanksgiving Day sales growing 39% from last year, according to IBM Coremetrics. Of all the online sales, 11% was done over a mobile device, more than twice last year's 4.5%, IBM Coremetrics said.
In brick-and-mortar shopping, Barnes & Noble Inc. customers made a beeline to the Nook section of the Union Square location in New York City, where a line formed early for the gadget. After the store opened at 8 a.m., Mary Patterson of Brooklyn was the first in line. She came out to purchase the discounted Nook SimpleTouch.

Discounts, as part of a general sense about the iffy economy, were on shoppers' minds.
Macy's Herald Square was filled with a mix of people looking to experience Black Friday madness, tourists and deal-seekers among them. "In this economy, you have to save every penny you can," said 56-year-old Niourka Padilla, who was leaving Macy's with $6.99 Ralph Lauren pillows and a Cuisinart pot. She and her sister planned on dropping off their purchases before heading to Toys "R" Us for more deals.
Shopper Marianela Cespedes made Macy's the first of several planned stops for Black Friday. The 33-year-old stood in line in the home department Friday morning at 1:30 a.m. with a stack of appliances chest-high. Ms. Cespedes used her cellphone to calculate the most effective discounts from a stack of coupons in her hand.
The die-hard deal-seekers began arriving at a Best Buy Co. in Houston on Tuesday afternoon. They huddled through several nights in fleece blankets, slept in tents and took shifts going to the bathroom until the store opened at midnight Friday morning, all in a quest for $200 televisions and discounted laptops.

Tops in 2010

Black Friday ranked No. 1 for foot traffic and sales during the 2010 holiday shopping season.

Rank	Top 10 Retail Traffic Days	Top 10 Retail Sales Days
1	Nov. 26, Fri.	Nov. 26, Fri.
2	Dec. 18, Sat.	Dec. 23, Thurs.
3	Dec. 11, Sat.	Dec. 18, Sat.
4	Dec. 23, Thurs.	Dec. 22, Wed.
5	Dec. 26, Sun.	Dec. 21, Tues.
6	Dec. 22, Wed.	Nov. 27, Sat.
7	Dec. 21, Tues.	Dec. 11, Sat.
8	Nov. 27, Sat.	Dec. 19, Sun.
9	Dec. 20, Mon.	Dec. 24, Fri.
10	Dec. 19, Sun.	Dec. 26, Sun.

Source: ShopperTrak
 

"With the deals they have this year, I don't have to spend as much," said Debbie Boyd of South Ozone, N.Y., who was first on line at Target Corp. in Farmingdale, N.Y. She got there at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day to wait for the retailer's midnight opening.
Some 34% of consumers said they plan to shop on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, up from 31% last year and 26% in 2009, according to a survey by the International Council of Shopping Centers.
The National Retail Federation expects 152 million to shop over the long weekend, up about 10% from a year ago.
"The stores are extremely crowded," said Jevin Eagle, head of marketing and merchandising for Staples Inc. But "it is too early to tell (if it will meet expectations). This is a long haul."
Steven Castro, sales leader for portable electronics at the Union Square Best Buy, said the flow of customers was steady throughout the night, with little rushes every hour or so.

John Gress/Reuters

 

Shoppers rode an escalator at a Target Store in Chicago early Friday morning.

Best Buy employees handed out "doorbuster" tickets to people in line, allowing shoppers to reserve items in the store. The employees limited the number of shoppers they let in at first. Mr. Castro said that strategy, which the store also used last year, helped maintain order.
Discounted TVs were big sellers, as well as some digital single-lens reflex cameras and an iPad that came with a $50 gift certificate, Mr. Castro said.
Some employees at the bigger retail chains balked at the early openings and even created petitions against them, but that did not sway stores.

Holiday Retail Sales

Track spending and retail trends during the holiday shopping season.

Toys "R" Us Inc. kicked off its Black Friday deals and opened stores at 9 p.m. on Thanksgiving, with strong early demand in the electronics section of the store.
The longest line at the toy retailer's Times Square store in New York City was in the gadget section. Consumers in the line--roughly 30 shoppers deep about 20 minutes after the store opened--were purchasing Nintendo Co.'s Wii, Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 3 and a variety of games.
Patsy Porras, of Costa Rica, found exactly what she was looking for. She stood in the electronics line early, ready to buy the Wii and a few of the system's games. Porras is in the U.S. visiting family and said it was her first time at a Black Friday event.
Brooklyn resident Preshus Perkins was one of the first shoppers in line after arriving at the Toys "R" Us around 7 p.m. Thursday. She said it was her first time at a "door-buster" event and came to purchase a $199.99 Power Wheel, which was discounted by $120 until 1 p.m. Friday. Toys "R" Us staggered its sales throughout the holiday weekend, a strategy that would likely encourage repeat visits to its stores.

—Dana Mattioli, Miguel Bustillo, John Kell and Matthew Jarzemsky contributed to this article.