Black Friday still a big shopping deal
Team Black Friday, as they call themselves, started shopping at 3 a.m. Friday. Pictured at Washington Crown Center are, from left, Allison Stauffer of Baltimore, and Terri Novotney, Kelly Crile and Nicole Sicilia, all of Marianna. For video, visit www.observer-reporter.com and for more about Black Friday, please see Page C5.
Catie Pleska, 13, carries a large shopping bag with her mother, Jackie Pleska of Avella, Friday morning at Washington Crown Center in North Franklin Township. They began shopping at 7:15 a.m. Friday.
Jennifer Rice, left, and her mother, Nancey Horr, both of Rogersville, began their shopping at 10 p.m. Thursday and were still going strong at 11 a.m. Friday at Washington Crown Center in North Franklin Township.
Jennifer and Christopher Everett of Washington, D.C., do a little shopping at Washington Crown Center in North Franklin Township on Friday. The couple were in town visiting an uncle for the holiday.
Kenya Williams with Aarow Sign Spinners out of Columbus, Ohio, caught drivers’ attention as he was stationed outside the GetGo convenience store at the corner of Allison and Wylie avenues in Washington to spin, flip and toss a sign promoting an incentive for Black Friday.
They are a winning team – close-knit, consistent, persistent – with matching jerseys and matching mindsets. And they give no indication of breaking up for, oh, three decades or so.
“We’ve been doing this every year for 19 years and we always start at 3 a.m.,” Allison Stauffer said, beaming.
Stauffer, Kelly Crile and sisters Terri Novotney and Nicole Sicilia strolled through Washington Crown Center late Friday morning, bearing Team Black Friday shirts that signified their unity as well as their mission.
Black Friday was churning on all cylinders throughout the region and the nation, with deals and sales abounding on the semi-official kickoff to the holiday retail season. Like a number of Crown Center shoppers, the teammates started hours earlier and filtered through numerous stores.
“We’ve been to Kohl’s twice, Walmart twice, Dick’s, Lowe’s …” said Crile, of Marianna.
They strictly adhere to one guideline: No shopping on Thanksgiving night, when Black Friday begins at many big-box operations.
“We won’t go out on Thanksgiving,” Crile said. “That’s family time. Allison lives in Baltimore, and that’s the day she spends with her family.”
Stauffer, originally from Muse, is related by marriage to Novotney and Sicilia.
The mall in North Franklin Township operated from 6 p.m. to midnight on the holiday, then reopened at 6 a.m. Friday. Civil Knox, assistant marketing director and office manager at Crown Center, said “6 a.m. shopping was very slow” Friday, but customer “traffic increased significantly from 11 a.m. through” early afternoon.
“The parking lot is at 75 percent right now and we anticipate that to increase as the day goes on.”
Shopping was vigorous at Tanger Outlets, according to manager Jodi Dague. Her mall, high atop a hill overlooking Racetrack Road in South Strabane Township, opened at 6 p.m. Thanksgiving and didn’t shut its doors until 10 p.m. Friday.
She said a number of shoppers began lining up an hour or more before the 28-hour run.
“What is exciting about that night is you see so many groups shopping together as a tradition,” Dague said. “Definitely a lot of college students, but there were also a lot of families and extended families that make it a tradition to go out shopping.”
She said Tanger was busy Thursday into Friday, with a lull around 4 a.m. The pace picked up a few hours later “and the lot was almost full by 11 a.m. We are definitely hopping and people are buying.”
That may not have been the case at Walmart in Greene County. An employee who asked not to be identified said he saw fewer people come out for Black Friday shopping than in previous years.
“It was not nearly as busy as last year,” he said. “They started online sales Thursday at 3 p.m. and that’s what I think kept it less crazy.”
Julie Thoms of Waynesburg went to Walmart to pick up some groceries Friday morning and was surprised by the lack of shoppers.
“I was nervous to come this early because I thought it might still be really busy, but it’s actually not packed at all. I’m a bit surprised,” Thoms said.
She said she used to go Black Friday shopping when her children were younger, but hasn’t gone in a couple of years.
“I don’t understand why anyone enjoys it, to be honest,” Thoms said. “I do most of my shopping online anymore. It’s just so much easier.”
Jackie Pleska likewise is an avid online customer. “I do most of my Christmas shopping there. It’s hard to get away from the kids (and their activities),” she said, referring to the many pursuits of her seventh-grade daughter and fourth-grade son.
Pleska was touring Crown Center Friday with her daughter, Catie, but said they aren’t hard-core Black Friday shoppers.
“We’re late risers. We hit the first store at 7:15 (a.m. Friday). We find the crowds around Washington aren’t bad in the morning,” she said, attributing that to certain stores opening on Thanksgiving.
Nancy Horr and her daughter, Jennifer Rice, on the contrary, are serious Black Friday customers. “I’ve been up since 3:30 Thanksgiving morning, preparing the meal,” Nancy said around 11 a.m. Friday.
“I slept for an hour in the lot,” Jennifer said, seriously.
“I took her picture then and put it on Facebook,” her mother said.
The two Rogersville women said they started shopping in Waynesburg, moved to Tanger Outlets, then to The Highlands near Triadelphia, W.Va., before arriving at Crown Center.
“We’ve found good deals. We’re saving lots of money,” Jennifer said.
Yet, for all of their retail zeal, mother and daughter won’t let shopping compromise their holiday.
“We don’t leave our family to come here,” Nancy said.
“We don’t like the Thanksgiving shopping,” Jennifer said. “It’s Black Friday for a reason.”
A couple from Washington, D.C., Jennifer and Christopher Everett, walked leisurely through Crown Center. No, they weren’t serious shoppers, and they hadn’t confused their Washington with this Washington. Christopher has an uncle in Pittsburgh the couple was meeting there.
“We’re looking for deals on kitchen appliances,” Christopher said. “We’re renovating a kitchen and looking at Sears and Macy’s. This is it as far as stores.”
Some polls indicate there is a growing public sentiment against Thanksgiving shopping hours, and the Everetts are opposed to it as well.
“It’s like it’s cheating Turkey Day,” Christopher said.
“I think Black Friday should start on Friday,” Jennifer said.
No matter when it begins, Black Friday continues to appeal to the shopper in everyone. As will Small Business Saturday today and Cyber Monday in two days.