Black Friday traditionalists find fewer crowds, good sales in Elgin area

Shoppers walk by signage advertising Black Friday sales at Dolphins Mall in Doral, Fla., Thursday, Nov. 24, 2016.

Many shoppers throughout the region said they noticed a stark contrast between the crowds on Thanksgiving and later on Black Friday. Best Buy chief executive Hubert Joly asked on a conference call last week.

Online shopping, Thursday store hours and Cyber Monday deals have minimized much of the craze once associated with Black Friday, although it remains one of the busiest shopping days of the holiday weekend. Prices can easily be compared online so you can find the best deals and you can shop comfortably at home in your pajamas if you wish.

“We came out early”. It said mobile orders from Amazon customers in the US on Thanksgiving Day exceeded both Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday tallies previous year. That’s a slight uptick from past year when almost 136 million people snapped up deals over the holiday weekend.

“Probably 70 percent of our stuff is online”, said shopper Mark Foggiato.

Floss says even though Cyber Monday and online shopping continues to grow, he believes Black Friday won’t go anywhere soon.

The Black Friday tradition started in the U.S. and falls on the fourth Friday in November to coincide with Thanksgiving.

Black Friday is about half over, well depending on what side of the country you’re on, and Amazon is already looking towards Cyber Monday which is this coming Monday, November 28th.

“It’s kind of tradition for us”, Cassie said. For example, Friday’s atmosphere at Los Cerritos Center was anything but quiet, with the sounds of shoppers’ conversations echoing off the shopping center’s walls. The federation conducts an annual survey by Proper Insights and found Black Friday is “still the most popular day to shop across all age groups”, the website stated. In 2015, shoppers visited more than 4,500 retail websites and spent more than $3 million on Cyber Monday, according to Adobe Research.

As a result, shopping center operator JLL says 73 percent of the 15 of its malls surveyed were reporting sales that were equal to or better than a year ago.

The National Retail Federation, which has been overly optimistic with projections in the past, has said it expects sales this holiday season to increase by 3.6 percent to about $656 billion, mainly due to rise in online shopping.

That’s partly because “retailers have made it not just Black Friday day – it’s Black Friday week”, says Maureen Atkinson, a senior partner with retail consultancy Global Retail Advisors. Bond said they were not only were out shopping from 6 a.m. on Friday, but like others, the night before were out at stores Thanksgiving Day.

When Black Friday moved to Thursdays, she started leaving right after dinner to go shopping. “You can get everything at one time”, she said. That includes online and store shopping.

The National Retail Federation, the nation’s largest retail group, expects holiday sales to rise 3.6 percent for November and December, better than the 3 percent growth seen for those months past year. That includes online and store shopping. But without online shopping goliath Amazon, the group’s revenue is seen edging up just 1.7 percent, slightly better than its 1.1 percent increase a year ago.

“I don’t like the idea of it”, said Lauren Glynn. That excludes auto sales, gas and restaurant receipts. Televisions were down an average of 23.2 percent, while markdowns for toys online were around 15 percent. Not everything that’s on sale on Black Friday will be available on Cyber Monday, and it may detract from local business sales.