The history of Black Friday tracks the history of modern American retailing, and of personal consumption in the United States, which make up a bigger part of the economy than in almost any other industrialized country. These days, however, the shopping and deals haven’t been limited to just one day – or one country.
Updated:
AUSTIN, Tex. — After an anemic beginning
in the pre-dawn hours on Friday morning, Barton Creek Square, a
venerable upscale shopping center with more than 180 retailers, was
swarming with customers later in the morning, prompting at least one
store supervisor to revise his assessment of how things were looking.
Just before 5 a.m., with no more than 20
cars parked outside each of the main entrances, it looked like a light
day. Signs on a big glass door lured customers with the promise of
“Today’s Deals and Steals.”
Some stores were just opening, while
others were about another hour away from opening. Giants such as J.C.
Penney and Macy’s had opened on Thursday to a crush of Thanksgiving Day
shoppers, and remained open through the night to soldier on into Black
Friday.
It was just before 5 a.m. and 43-year-old
Shannon Britton, her son, Cameron, 11, and daughter, Gabby, 8, had
already been shopping for hours at retailers in other parts of town when
they walked into mall looking for those deals and steals.
They left their apartment well before midnight and checked out other stores before descending on Barton Creek.
Cameron was in pursuit of an Xbox One and
said he had already done extensive research online in advance of
Thanksgiving and Black Friday. Gabby had already bought some long-sleeve
shirts and other apparel when the trio arrived at Barton Creek Square.
Even though they were sleepless after several hours of shopping, they
showed no signs of slowing down and seemed to be enjoying themselves.
“We wanted to go for fun,” Ms. Britton explained.
At least a half-dozen shoppers were
browsing through GameStop after it opened at 5 a.m. and the manager,
Andres Cifuentes, 31, said the game store had drawn just under 20
customers and had sold “plenty of items” in the first 15 minutes.
Nevertheless, he described this year’s volume of Black Friday activity
as “slow” compared with other years, and he attributed the fall-off to
the move by other stores to open on Thanksgiving evening or at midnight,
attracting customers who previously did their shopping on Black Friday.
Mr. Cifuentes said his store had opened at midnight in previous years.
By noon, it was clear he had gotten his
wish as he and other store employees were assisting an endless stream of
customers. “Busy,” he said in updating his description. “It’s
definitely busier than I was expecting it to get compared to what this
morning was looking like.”
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