Shoppers hit Black Friday sales with celebratory mood despite economic strain

“Sipping and shopping is the best, so I feel like that’s a New Orleans thing to do” said Lacie Lemoine, who was shopping with her grandmother, an annual tradition they've kept despite the fact that their budgets are shrinking.

“The economy is bad, but you still have to celebrate," said her grandmother, Sandra Lemoine. "Everybody has to do what they can do on their own budget. That’s it.”

Matthew Shay, CEO of National Retail Federation, said in early November that he has seen record levels of spending on holidays — whether religious, secular or bank — walled off by other outside factors.

“It’s a sort of a category of spending that has a moat around it,” he said. “Shoppers view them as opportunities for celebration. I think that really captures the way the (winter) holiday season goes. People save for it. They plan for it. They prioritize it.”

Both the massive Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, and Westfield Garden State Plaza in Paramus, New Jersey, reported strong customer traffic on Friday and said Black Friday would once again rank as their busiest day of the year.

“We are off to a great start,” said Jill Renslow, Mall of America’s chief business development and marketing officer.

The line to enter the shopping and entertainment center started forming at 3 p.m. on Thursday, Renslow said. About 14,000 visitors entered within an hour of the mall’s 7 a.m. opening, she said.

“We are tracking one of our best Black Fridays ever,” she added.

Many retail executives have reported customers becoming more discerning and increasingly focused on deals while at the same time remaining willing to splurge for important occasions, creating a potential halo effect that might keep financial worries from discouraging holiday shoppers.

While some are being cautious about this year’s Christmas expenses, others are not. Metairie, Louisiana resident Denise Thevenot says this year is no different. “I wish I could say that I had, but no, we’re just blowing it away just like we do every year. We’ll worry about that tomorrow, right? I got the receipts to show you.”

Marshal Cohen, chief industry adviser at Circana, a market research firm, visited several malls on New York’s Long Island and New Jersey. He noted strong traffic and said the centers grew busier as Black Friday went on.

Cohen said Target drew lines for complementary gift bags for the early shoppers, but overall “gone is Black Friday as we know it,” he said. “There’s no sense of urgency.”

According to Target, which aims to reverse a sales slump, 150 shoppers on average were in line at its stores for the bags filled with what it described as “goodies.” The discounter was giving away the bags for the first 100 customers who showed up for its 6 a.m. opening

At Macy’s Herald Square flagship store in New York City, customers who streamed in soon after the store opened at 6 a.m. found deep discounts on clothes, shoes, linens and cosmetics. The footwear department discounted everything up to half off.

Nicholas Menasche, 19, from Queens, New York, shopped with his mother for shoes and clothing, and planned to head next to Best Buy for video games. Menasche, an intern at a bank, said he expected to spend around $1,200 this year on his holiday shopping, roughly the same amount as last year.

“It’s a great tradition," he said. "The stores are open really early.”

Westfield Garden State Plaza let customers in an hour early instead of making customers wait outside in the frigid weather, but stores didn’t open their doors until 7 a.m. as planned, said marketing director William Lewis. Members of Generation Z mostly comprised the early crowd, but older customers came in later, he said.

“People are definitely buying,” Lewis said. “Most people are walking around with a shopping bag."

Shoppers appeared to have done research ahead of time and “know exactly where they are going,” he said.

Although Black Friday still reigns supreme as a magnet for in-store shopping, the ease of browsing and buying gifts online has eroded the event’s singular significance. Online purchases now account for more than 30% of total holiday sales compared to 15% in 2012, according to the National Retail Federation.

The growth in online sales also has been robust so far. From Nov. 1 to Nov. 23, U.S. consumers spent $79.7 billion, or 7.5% more than a year earlier, according to web tracking and analysis platform Adobe Analytics. They spent another $6.4 billion online on Thanksgiving Day, a 5.3% increase over last year, while taking advantage of better than expected deals, the firm said.

“Clearly, there’s uncertainty,” Mastercard Chief Economist Michelle Meyer said ahead of Black Friday. “Consumers feel on edge. But at the moment, it doesn’t seem like it’s changing how they are showing up for this season.”

___ Smith contributed from Metairie, Louisiana.