Today is Black Friday. Shoppers were expected to line up early outside some stores as the nation’s retailers usher in the traditional start of the holiday shopping season with expanded hours and deep discounts on everything from toys to TVs.
A number of stores, including Walmart and many Old Navy locations, opened on Thanksgiving, hoping to make the most of the extra hours. Toys R Us opened most of its stores at midnight Friday.
Black Friday gets its name because it traditionally has been the day when huge
crowds push stores into “the black,” or profitability. But the
weekend doesn’t provide a forecast for the rest of the season, which
accounts for as much as 40 percent of annual sales and profits for many
stores.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s largest retailer, has lures like deeply discounted TVs like 42-inch plasma Emerson HDTVs for $448, and other electronics like $78 Magnavox Blu-ray disc players, for the early morning specials that start at 5 a.m.
Toys R Us, which threw open its doors just after midnight Friday, five hours earlier than a year ago, is hawking 250 early morning specials that offer discounts of up to 65 percent on such items as VTech Learning Laptops and Little Tikes Jump ‘n Slide Bouncer.
Midprice department store operator Kohl’s Corp., which is set to open at 4 a.m., is offering deep discounts on cashmere sweaters, dresses and select kitchen appliances.
The nation’s largest electronics chain, Best Buy Co., will open its doors at 5 a.m. will have such deals as $999.99 Samsung 46-inch flat-panel TVs, a savings of $700; and Sony laptops for $479.97, a savings of $180.
With the early morning specials limited, crowd control is expected to
be a big focus for merchants this year in the aftermath of the death of
a Wal-Mart worker at a Long Island store during last year’s Black
Friday shopping madness.
Wal-Mart kept most of its stores open through the night to prevent such mad dashes.
Rival
Target Corp., which is opening at 5 a.m. Friday, is spreading hot items
throughout the store to make sure customers have space to shop, as it
has done in the past.
The promotional blitz typical for the
traditional start of the holiday shopping season has high stakes for
retailers who’ve suffered through a year of sales declines. It’s also
important for the broader economy, which could also use a kickstart
from consumer spending.
Retailers closely study buying patterns
for the Thanksgiving weekend to gauge shoppers’ mindset — what kinds of
items they’re buying, what deals are luring them.
Stores need to
perform well for the traditional start because chances are slim they’ll
be able to make up for lost sales for the rest of the season.
–Associated Press
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