Black Friday: Still a good day to shop?
Long considered one of the best days of the year for sales, Black Friday is the savvy shopper’s dream — or is it?
This year, reports and experts indicate that consumer spending will be only marginally greater than last year.
By just “looking at the numbers,” this year’s holiday shopping season should be a decent one — there are more jobs, incomes are rising and consumer confidence is up, said Joel Naroff, president of Naroff Economic Advisors.
A survey by the Conference Board said that 11 percent of consumers plan to spend more this year on holiday gifts, up 8 percent from last year.
Twenty-seven percent of consumers plan to spend less, and 62 percent plan to spend the same amount as last year.
But, there’s more to the story, Naroff said.
“The only issue you have is how people are spending that money,” he said.
People are buying bigger-ticket items, such as vehicles — not included in the typical holiday shopping season — which come with an auto loan. That extra monthly payment might mean families will spend less on holiday shopping.
Retail therapy
After seven years of recession recovery — holiday spending plummeted in 2008 and hit a low in 2009, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF) — people may have discovered that they can “do without,” Naroff said.
“What the heck do we need these things for? I bought a new phone last year, do I really need to buy a new phone? I have a 50-incher, do I need a 55-incher?” Naroff said.
The NRF reported that holiday shopping sales would increase 3.7 percent this year, compared with last year’s 4.1 percent growth.
“There’s a change in shopping patterns that I think is going on, it may be a lasting kind of trend,” Naroff said. “The savings rate is up — that’s an indicator, not that people are worried, but maybe people don’t need to shop until they drop anymore.”
Still, the average household will spend $576 on holiday gifts, up from $538 last year, the Conference Board reported.
Consumers are on the hunt for bargains, the survey indicated. Sixty percent of holiday shoppers expect at least a quarter of their purchases to be on sale. Twenty-five percent of shoppers said more than half of their gifts will be purchased online.
Shopping small
The holiday shopping season isn’t only about Black Friday, or big business, Naroff said. Now, there’s Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday.
“We do see a lot of shoppers on Black Friday and of course going into Small Business Saturday, as well,” said Laura Checki, owner of From Heart to Hearth, an antiques and collectibles shop in Ocean Grove. “More people are eschewing the malls and shopping small. We look forward to that.”
The Cherry Hill Mall will open at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day and remain open until midnight, then close until 6 a.m. on Black Friday. That’s scaled back from last year when the mall stayed open from late on Thanksgiving straight through until the following night.
Jesse Sigall, manager at Claire’s at Cherry Hill Mall, feels like shoppers are out a little more this year but worries that cutting sales time could hurt some shops.
“Last year this mall was open overnight from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. the next day on Black Friday,” Sigall said. “This year we’re losing about six hours of sales. Last year we were opened all night long. Some stores are kind of angry about it but some stores have a mentality that they shouldn’t be opened on Thanksgiving at all. It’s always busy on Black Friday. As long as we have great customer service we can get those customers in here and we can make up for those six hours of lost sales.”
Renee Vettese of Cherry Hill doesn’t plan to hit the malls on Black Friday and hopes to do most of her holiday shopping online.
“If I had the money, maybe I would shop on that day,” she said. “I usually work Black Friday, so I don’t get to get out. I do a lot of online shopping. I feel like they have a lot of better deals online as well.”
Griffin Cihak works at Hot Topic at the Cherry Hill Mall and is excited about working over the holiday.
“I’m actually working,” Cihak said. “Our manager needs everybody to work. There’s always so many people here. You need to help everybody. Everybody loves the experience of being here in the mall. I’m excited. We’ll see.”
Raenique Alexander of Sicklerville won’t be one of those shoppers.
“No not at all,” she said with a grin. “There are too many people that are going to be in the store on Black Friday. Online shopping is better, you get more deals.”
Amber Hrbek of Mount Laurel said she’ll try online shopping because she won’t be able to hit the malls and stores on Black Friday.
“I have to work on Black Friday because I work in retail,” Hrbek said. “I’ll probably shop online, just because I have to work and it’ll probably just be easier for me. Christmas shopping, too. It’s just easier and faster.”
Moorestown Mall will also open at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day and will close at midnight, then reopen at 6 a.m. on Black Friday. Deptford Mall is scheduled to have the same schedule as both Moorestown and Cherry Hill Malls, opening at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day and remaining open until midnight, then reopening at 6 a.m. for Black Friday.
More than 2,700 people have signed a petition on Change.Org, created by Sicklerville woman Laura Smith, telling mall property manager Jim Mackey, “Do Not Open Deptford Mall on Thanksgiving Day.”
Smith, who claims to be a retail worker, wrote that Thanksgiving hours are “taking people away from a holiday that is based around spending time with friends and family.”
“This year will be the first year Deptford Mall has decided to open at such an early time. If the mall is opening at 6 p.m., that means management will be required to get here even earlier.”
Season of sales
“This idea that you absolutely have to shop on Thanksgiving or the Friday after is nice because it brings people in, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that people don’t spend if they don’t go shopping at a different time, especially if you can buy things online,” Naroff said.
In recent years, some shoppers have displayed outrage over stores opening on Thanksgiving.
When Target announced that stores will open at 6 p.m. this Thanksgiving, Ryan Zeilman, a Target employee in Woodbury, started a Change.org petition calling for Target to “put people over profits and close on Thanksgiving Day.” It has over 71,000 signatures.
This backlash is unlikely to affect holiday shopping, because deals run all season long, Naroff said.
“(Consumers) recognize they can get sales over a two-month shopping season,” he said. “That’s why companies are beginning to cut back on Thanksgiving sales. Some are not even doing it. Some are not doing it on (Thanksgiving) or (Black Friday).”
Fifty-seven percent of holiday shoppers already started shopping by Nov. 1, up 3 percent from last year, the NRF reported.
“The holiday shopping season starts in October. There’s no such thing as Black Friday,” Naroff said. “Black Friday sales are all through November and December.”
Celeste E. Whittaker contributed to this report. Reach Celeste at
(856) 486-2437; cwhittaker@gannettnj.com
Devin Loring:
732-643-4035;
dloring@gannettnj.com
Mall Hours
• The malls at Cherry Hill, Moorestown and Deptford all open at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day and remain open until midnight, then close until 6 a.m. on Black Friday.