Black Friday draws crowds of deal-seekers

Shoppers appeared ready to open their wallets, buoyed by a generally strong economy and rising stock market.

“I went at midnight one time a couple of year’s ago and it was insane out, you know, like Black Friday used to be, but so when last year when I went about 5am there was nobody out, even on Woodruff Rd in Greenville, there was nobody out”, she said.

Overall, it seems that mobile shopping is becoming a more significant source of sales for many of these retailers.

USA consumers spent a record $1.2 billion via mobile on Friday, according to a new report from Adobe.

Like many of us, the tradition leads to order a big turkey and prepare it with curry, stews and sandwiches.

“Initial reports show it’s steady and not very busy at stores around the country”, said Craig Johnson, president at retail consultancy Customer Growth Partners. They were asked to give the site 10 seconds to refresh their browser.

“All of this adds up to the consumer feeling better about their current situation and I’m hoping they. buy all of their gifts from Macy’s”, Macy’s CEO Terry Lundgren told reporters. That includes online and store shopping.

With Thanksgiving Day nearing $2 billion, it will be fascinating to see if Black Friday and Cyber Monday will also come close to, or even surpass, new records.

“I work from 8 a.m.to 8 p.m., I do not have a chance to shop in the day though I am here”, said Suki, a saleswoman at the Queens Place Mall.

Black Friday is well underway across the nation. “If it’s going to be busy at the mall and you can get it next week, why bother?” she said.

With an exuberant smile, she rattled off her purchases: clothes, shoes, a vacuum, a pressure cooker and pillows.

“It takes the fun out of it”, Tucker said. “We’ve been having a ball”. We have all seen the different #Black Friday Countdown ads and many of us will be eager to buy a lot of stuff.

Amazon said Black Friday would surpass a year ago in terms of the number of items ordered on its Web site. That’s a slight uptick from past year when almost 136 million people snapped up deals over the holiday weekend. In an exclusive Action News poll conducted by SurveyUSA, most Central Valley shoppers are spending about the same as they did previous year. “But there were no gaps this year. Black Friday is supposed to see more than $3 billion in online sales as well, an 11 percent increase over a year ago. Including Sunday, online sales in the US are estimated to total over $12 billion during Thanksgiving weekend, according to ADI. Retailers are also increasingly making available online the type of door-buster deals typically reserved for store locations on Black Friday.

Guests take advantage of Target’s Black Friday electronics sales on Thursday, Nov. 24, 2016, in Jersey City, N.J.

Shoppers hunted for deals and hit the stores for entertainment Friday as US malls opened for one of the busiest days of the year, even as the start of the holiday season edges ever earlier.

Bond said her first time participating in Black Friday was only made extra special by knowing she can spend the time not only hunting for bargains but bonding with her sister.

In the NY and Chicago areas, shoppers said stores were less busy than previous years on the day after the Thanksgiving holiday.

For consumers who did want to visit shopping centres, many stores were offering deals on Thursday evening.