Black Friday shoppers shifted their buying habits to online avenues this year, rather than waiting for stores to open and dealing with the prospect of fighting the crowds in person. | Hanson Lu Unsplash
Black Friday shoppers shifted their buying habits to online avenues this year, rather than waiting for stores to open and dealing with the prospect of fighting the crowds in person. | Hanson Lu Unsplash
Black Friday shoppers shifted their buying habits to online avenues this year, rather than waiting for stores to open and dealing with the prospect of fighting the crowds in person.
"We were just like, why are we the only people here? And then we heard people were shopping online,” Andrew Torres, who braved the weather and crowds to shop in brick-and-mortar stores on Black Friday with his friend Justin Nye, told WTVD. The Friday after Thanksgiving got the name Black Friday because traditionally it is the day stores get in the black for the year.
Even though the turnout was smaller than the pair expected, Nye said they had a lot of fun while waiting before the break of dawn.
“It sounds kind of boring but it was lot more fun than you would expect,” he said.
With more people doing their shopping online, shopping during the Thanksgiving weekend has become more of a hybrid event. The National Retail Federation still ranks Black Friday as the most popular day to shop, but this year it turned to more of a virtual event.
"We know there is renewed interest in the store experience. Particularly around Black Friday this year,” Senior Director Katherine Cullen said. “Of the 114.9 million potential Black Friday shoppers, 67% say they're planning to head in stores this year."
Bass Pro Shops eagerly welcomed shoppers on Friday.
"Today is a good sign of it,” the manager said. “The day-in, day-out shopper is here today and they may have held back a couple weeks as they're waiting for the economy to kind of show different signs of life but today, I think whatever they thought was in the way, they pushed through it."
After months of battling rising costs, people were said to be on the hunt for values that are typically associated with Black Friday and the start of the holiday shopping season.
"We are optimistic that retail sales will remain strong in the weeks ahead,” NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay said, “and retailers are ready to meet consumers however they want to shop with great products at prices they want to pay."
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