Cape Girardeau stores will open early to attract spenders

More retailers will open their doors even earlier this year on Black Friday in hopes shoppers will spend more money.

The National Retail Federation is expecting a 2.8 percent increase in holiday spending this year, compared to last year. In 2010, holiday sales jumped 5.2 percent from 2009 spending levels.

Opening at midnight Friday for the first time this year are Kohls, Macy's, Best Buy and Target. Walmart and Toys R Us have offered their Black Friday deals at midnight for several years now. This year, Walmart will open at 10 p.m. Thursday. Old Navy's "Gobblepalooza" shopping event starts on Thanksgiving Day, with the store open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. and then reopening at midnight for Black Friday.

The news that Kohls will be opening at midnight came as a shock initially to employees, said Clint Welker, assistant manager for human resources and operations at Kohls in Cape Girardeau.

"They were in shock to begin with, but I was totally surprised at how many wanted to be here at midnight. I think 75 percent of the store wanted to be here at midnight, which made it easier to staff," he said.

Kohls will be open 24 hours straight, from midnight Thursday to midnight Friday.

"We all have fun with it. Everybody likes working that day. We cater in (food) and we all just try to have a good time," said Welker. "We like to have as much fun as the people shopping."

For some retailers, the holiday season can represent from 25 to 40 percent of annual sales, so they'll spend this week making sure merchandise is out of the stockroom and on the floor ready for customers.

"We're getting out as much as possible to be ready to roll for Friday morning," said Natalie Mansell, sales manager at J.C. Penney in West Park Mall.

"Boots are always a really big item. We sell tons of boots on Black Friday morning and coats are always popular," Mansell said.

J.C. Penney is sticking with its 4 a.m. opening, just like last year, but Mansell isn't worried they'll lose customers to other stores opening earlier.

"We're not concerned. We figure the people that are going early are going for the big ticket electronics-type items we don't carry anyway. We think we'll be fine," she said.

While more stores may be opening earlier, it appears there may be more shoppers to go around this year. According to the International Council of Shopping Centers and Goldman Sachs 34 percent of consumers said they plan to shop on that day.

That number is up slightly over last year when 31 percent of consumers indicated that they planned to shop on Black Friday and significantly up over 2009's 26 percent. Sixteen percent of consumers indicated that they would be heading out to shop on Thanksgiving Day itself.

Beginning in September, retailers started adding staff to help handle the increased holiday traffic. Kohls in Cape Girardeau added 30 to 40 additional workers, while J.C. Penney added 75 people.

The National Retail Federation estimates that retailers will hire between 480,000 to 500,000 seasonal employees, comparable to the 496,000 they hired last holiday season and substantially more than the 333,000 hired in 2009.

Mansell said she's looking forward to Black Friday -- which got its name because purchases on this day can push retailers into profitability, or "the black," for the year -- is the busiest day of the year.

"I personally love this day and the next four weeks. It's my favorite part of the year," she said. "After, 32 years in retail, it's my favorite part still. People say, 'oh, but it's so busy.' But I say, so what. It's fun. I look forward to it."

This year, there has been some Black Friday backlash, with nearly 200,000 employees and shoppers signing a change.org petition asking Target to "Save Thanksgiving" and not to open at midnight. It was organized by Anthony Hardwick, who works part time at a Target store in Omaha.

While Black Friday festivities are typically associated with big box retailers, last year, a new movement named Small Business Saturday began to encourage shoppers to patronize local businesses on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. The day, promoted by American Express and 130 different small business advocate groups, public and private organizations and elected officials, asks shoppers to support small businesses to help fuel local economies.

Old Town Cape has been promoting the effort on its Facebook page, said executive director Marla Mills.

"Our downtown businesses are primarily made up of small, locally owned businesses. More goes back into the local community when you support local small businesses," she said.

mmiller@semissourian.com

388-3646

Pertinent address:

Cape Girardeau, Mo