Holiday shoppers brave crowds Friday, Saturday to get a deal

Stores opened early for Black Friday in hopes shoppers would open their wallets in return. And they did just that, at least locally, based on reports of bustling shops, active cash registers and heightened retail expectations for what merchants see as the all-important kick-off to the holiday shopping season.

Nationally, however, the consumption verdict was mixed, with Black Friday sales up marginally from the same day last year, according to a leading consumer spending tracker.

The parking lot fills and a long line forms as customers wait to get inside Toys R Us on Thursday, Nov. 25, 2010, in Cape Girardeau. Toys R Us opened its doors to Black Friday shoppers at 10 p.m. Thursday. (Kristin Eberts)

Some Cape Girardeau stores, joining a mix of merchants nationwide, kicked off the annual holiday shopping blitz Thanksgiving night, and many shoppers embarked on an all-night shopathon, dashing from store to store and scoring deal after deal.

Hayley Benson and her mom, Myshena Crisel, of Puxico, Mo., said they saved hundreds thanks to Black Friday discounts.

"It was worth it for a night," a bleary-eyed Benson said in the babydoll aisle at Toys "R" Us in Cape Girardeau at about 7 a.m. Friday. Benson had started her Black Friday shopping more than 10 hours before. Her first stop was Walmart, which began its Black Friday sales at midnight. There she bought a 40-inch television for $299.

Benson, her mom and sister Hillary Mayberry shopped together throughout the night.

"We all three tag-teamed. We strategized. And we got everything we needed," she said.

They joined an estimated 138 million people nationwide who planned to shop this holiday weekend, according to a survey from the National Retail Federation.

Deal-driven traffic

Retailers posted a 0.3 percent increase in sales Friday versus Black Friday 2009, according to data from retail industry analyst ShopperTrak. Consumers spent an estimated $10.69 billion in various retail locations, according to the report. Midwest retailers posted 0.4 percent growth in sales on Black Friday, based on ShopperTrak's figures.

"Retailers were very conscious of driving traffic early in November and in doing so some might have thinned Black Friday spending a bit," ShopperTrak founder Bill Martin said in a news release. "The reality is we have a deal-driven consumer in 2010 and that consumer responded to some of the earliest deep discounts we've even seen for the holidays."

There seemed to be plenty of deal-seekers hitting the stores early and often in Cape Girardeau on Friday and Saturday.

Mindi Watts, of Ste. Genevieve, Mo., who waited in the checkout line at Target for more than an hour Friday morning, had been scanning ads and planning her Black Friday route for a week. She'd convinced her husband, Brian, to join her as they headed out to shop at 12:30 a.m.

Rickie Harris, of Marble Hill, Mo., said he'd agreed to go Black Friday shopping with his wife in hopes of getting a new TV and DVDs.

"I didn't get any of them because they sold out too fast," said Harris, who had already been to six stores by 8:30 a.m. Friday.

Breea Haron of Bloomsdale, Mo., waited outside Target in Cape Girardeau from 12:35 a.m. until the store opened its doors at 4 a.m. Haron and three friends took turns out in the cold holding their place in line for 30 minutes at a time, while the others huddled in their car to stay warm.

The line at Best Buy started to form at 1 p.m. Thanksgiving Day and soon tents stretched across the front of the building, said operations manager John Abernathy.

But not all shoppers took Black Friday so seriously.

Amy Blair of Potosi, Mo., and Chelsea Weible of Bonne Terre, Mo., just liked being part of the crowd. The two sat on a bench at West Park Mall about 9 a.m. Friday with 15 shopping bags piled at their feet.

"We don't punch people in the face to get the deals," Blair said.

Spending more, less

There wasn't a clear consensus among shoppers about whether they were going to spend more than last year on holiday gifts. Some who had recently found new jobs said they would, while other shoppers said they were trying to hold Christmas costs down as they continued to show concern about the economy.

Chris Bess of Millersville, who started her shopping day waiting in line outside Target for electronics at about 2:30 a.m. Friday, said she hoped to spend a little more this year.

"We are in a good spot in our lives, so we are able to do so," she said.

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. Last year, the Thanksgiving shopping weekend accounted for 12 percent of all holiday sales. Black Friday accounted for about half of those sales.

Meanwhile, online consumer spending spiked 16 percent on Black Friday, perhaps driven by shoppers looking to avoid crowded stores and long lines. The average order value climbed from $170.19 to $190.80 for an increase of 12.1 percent, according to Web research company Coremetrics.

mmiller@semissourian.com

388-3646

mkittle@semissourian.com

388-3627

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