Shoppers hit stores on Black Friday, Small Business Saturday

Thanksgiving openings of many stores didn't appear to deter masses of shoppers from taking advantage of Black Friday specials at major retailers in Cape Girardeau or during Small Business Saturday at local stores.

Locally, shopping traffic Friday morning seemed to buck the trend of smaller crowds seen some places throughout the country.

People continuously streamed through the doors of Academy Sports and Outdoor and Menards on Siemers Drive at 11 a.m. Friday, which both opened early in the morning after being closed for Thanksgiving.

Academy's manager, Clint Welker, said a line of shoppers that stretched around the back of the building formed before 5 a.m. in anticipation of the opening. Many shoppers were after bicycles, scooters and basketball goals, Welker said, but its offerings on name-brand sports apparel and shoes also were hot items Friday.

"We've been very busy all day," he said, "but people are getting through the checkout pretty quickly, and we like to see that."

Though Target and Wal-Mart opened Thursday night, those stores also remained full of shoppers throughout the day Friday.

Lines remained at Target at midday, though they were only at inside registers as opposed to a long line the night before as shoppers waited for the store to open. Shoppers still were finding Black Friday items on special, such as toys, shoes, clothes, housewares and DVDs, later in the day Friday.

At West Park Mall, shoppers said Thanksgiving openings didn't seem to have reduced the number of people on Black Friday, as stock seemed to be lasting.

The National Retail Federation recently reported 44.8 million people shopped on Thanksgiving Day in 2013, a 27 percent increase from 2012, while 92.1 million shopped on Black Friday last year.

A survey by the federation on this year's Thanksgiving weekend shopping expectations showed 61.1 percent of Americans planned to shop Thursday through today, down slightly from 2013.

On Saturday afternoon, groups of shoppers filled downtown streets for Old Town Cape's Small Business Saturday event.

Families and groups of friends walked from store to store with shopping passports, which for each purchase at a downtown establishment they received another stamp that entered them into a chance of winning an Old Town Cape gift basket worth about $800.

"It's great, it's been going well; we are thrilled to death," Somewhere in Time Antiques owner Paula Haas said.

"It's all about shop small. I mean, we fight big-box shopping, we fight Internet shopping, and we fight St. Louis shopping, so anytime people come into the mom-and-pop places. it's awesome."

Haas said she's seen a steady stream of visitors throughout the day.

Haas remained busy Saturday afternoon, with families coming in to shop her vintage goods.

At Stash, a clothing boutique on Main Street, employees said nearly 150 people had stopped at the store by 3 p.m. Saturday.

Employee Emily Hoehne said although numbers were down Black Friday compared to last year, she thought it could be because people had been waiting for Small Business Saturday to do holiday shopping.

"It started off slow; we haven't been crazy busy, but it's been like this the last several hours," Hoehne said, motioning to the rows of ladies browsing the clothing racks.

smaue@semissourian.com

388-3644

eragan@semissourian.com

388-3632

Pertinent address:

Siemers Drive, Cape Girardeau

West Park Mall, Cape Girardeau

Stash, 40 N. Main St., Cape Girardeau

Somewhere in Time Antiques, 108 N. Main St., Cape Girardeau