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A28 u.s. news
Diasabra 27 November 2021

Black Friday is back but it’s not what it used to be

good shape.” But many sales curity guards had to help Macy’s with a friend. “We are
floors looked different than clear congestion. Across the picking up anything we see
in years past, when tall piles country, there were roughly that we like. We call it our an-
of merchandise used to be on three dozen people in line nual shopping outing.”
display. At Macy’s in Man- at a Denver-area Best Buy
hattan, gone were the shoes when doors opened at 5 a.m., Shoppers are expected to pay
stacked so high shoppers said shopper Edmond Ku- on average between 5% to
couldn’t reach them. nath, which he found under- 17% more for toys, clothing,
whelming. appliances, TVs and others
Fears of not being able to get purchases on Black Friday
the items they want helped “It is amazing how small the this year compared with last
drive people back to physical crowd is here this morning,” year, according to Aurelien
stores. said Kunath, who was look- Duthoit, senior sector advi-
ing for deals on Apple Air- sor at Allianz Research, with
Tim Clayburn was shopping Pods headphones and a hard the biggest price increases on
(AP) — On this year’s their money on pajamas and at Fashion Centre in Penta- drive. TVs. That’s because whatev-
Black Friday, things al- home goods. gon City, Virginia on Friday er discounts available will be
most seem normal. morning because he wanted Retail workers are worried applied to goods that already
While Black Friday has a to make sure he could get the about their safety because of cost more.
Malls and stores report de- strong hold on Americans’ gifts he wanted for his rela- frustrated shoppers and thin
cent-sized crowds, if not the imaginations as a day of tives. staffing, said Stuart Apple- Aniva Pawlowski got to Ma-
floods of people that used to crazed shopping, it has lost baum, president of the Retail, cy’s just ahead of the 6 a.m.
fight over the latest toys and stature over the last decade “Everyone is so worried Wholesale and Department opening with plans to buy
electronics — online shop- as stores opened on Thanks- about not having things Store Union, who said stores shoes and coats. Shopping
ping is much too common giving and shopping shifted shipped to you on time,” he should provide security and on Thanksgiving Day had
for that now, and discounts to Amazon and other online said. “I’d rather just get stuff training on how to handle been a family tradition, but
are both more subdued and retailers. Stores diluted the in person so I don’t have to irate shoppers. she stayed home last year and
spread out over the weeks day’s importance further by worry about the shipping.” just shopped online. Worries
leading up to Christmas, on advertising Black Friday sales One employee at the Zara about shortages drove the
both websites and in stores. on more and more days. That didn’t work out for ev- in Fashion Centre, who de- New Yorker to shop in per-
eryone, though. Christian clined to give his name, said son and she plans to spend
But out-of-stock items due The pandemic led many MacDonald, the first person the store seemed understaffed about $1,000 on holiday
to supply crunches, higher retailers to close stores on in a line of about 75 people and he had been stressed all shopping, similar to years
prices for gas and food, and Thanksgiving Day and push waiting for a Costa Mesa, morning. “This is the crazi- past, even though she’s con-
labor shortages that make it discounts on their websites, California Target store to est I’ve seen things in a long cerned about rising costs for
more difficult to respond to starting as early as October. open, came away empty- time,” he said. Zara’s store gas and food.
customers are also causing That’s continuing this year, handed. manager declined an inter-
frustrations for shoppers. although there are deals in view, saying he was too busy. “Everything is expensive,”
stores as well. “I came here because I fig- she said.
The country’s largest mall, ured since it was Black Fri- At Macy’s in Manhattan, the
the Mall of America in At the Fashion Centre mall day, they’d have the new pandemic remained in sight Online shopping remains
Bloomington, Minnesota, in the northern Virginia sub- Switch OLED in stock, but — employees wore masks huge, and sales are expected
reported overall traffic num- urbs, window signs adver- they didn’t,” said MacDon- and many shoppers did too to rise 7% for the week after
bers at its opening on Friday tised 50% off boots at Aldo, ald, who waited an hour and — but there was also a sense the massive 46% gain a year
were up by more than double 40% off full price items at a half to get in for the sought- of celebrating the fun of ago, when many shoppers
compared to a year ago. J.Crew, and 30% off at For- after Nintendo video game shopping, of things returning stayed home, according to
ever 21. At the Capital Mall console. “So I’m just going to to how they used to be. Mastercard. For the overall
“We had a fantastic start,” said in Olympia, Washington, go home, I guess.” holiday season, online sales
Mall of America senior vice stores advertised sales of 35% Carol Claridge of Bourne, should increase 10% from
president Jill Renslow. to 50% off. Still, experts believe Black England, has been coming to a year ago, compared with
Friday will again be the busi- New York for Thanksgiving- a 33% increase last year, ac-
Like many retailers and res- Big retailers like Walmart est shopping day this year. week shopping for 15 years, cording to Adobe Digital
taurants, however, staffing is- aren’t blasting “doorbuster” U.S. retail sales, exclud- but skipped it last year be- Economy Index.
sues affected the mall and it deals in their ads, said ing auto and gas, from this cause of the pandemic. The
had to trim the hours it was DealNews.com analyst Ju- past Monday through Sun- U.S. reopened to travelers “What the pandemic did for
open. lie Ramhold. Meanwhile, day are expected to increase from the U.K. earlier in No- retail was, it forced them to
smaller chains like Victoria’s 10% from last year and 12% vember when it lifted pan- be better digital retailers,”
Black Friday sales in stores Secret and Gap are having from the 2019 holiday sea- demic travel bans. said Cohen of the NPD
and online were up 12% by harder time managing supply son, according to Mastercard Group. That means the day
mid-morning, according to issues. Victoria’s Secret said SpendingPulse. “We had to wait a long time after Thanksgiving is no lon-
Mastercard SpendingPulse, recently that 45% of its holi- to do this,” said Claridge, ger what it was. “With that
which tracks spending broad- day merchandise is still stuck Several malls on Long Island who was looking at beauty comes the shortfall of Black
ly across cards and cash. That in transit. were busier than last year, gift sets on the first floor of Friday.”
was tracking below its 20% but there was no frenzy, said
growth forecast for the day. Supply chain hold-ups are a Marshall Cohen of market
major concern this year, and research firm NPD Group.
Overall holiday sales are ex- both stores and shoppers are In the Willowbrook Mall
pected to grow this year. For trying to find workarounds. in Wayne, New Jersey, lines
the November and Decem- Some of the biggest U.S. re- formed outside Pandora and
ber period, the National Re- tailers are rerouting goods Bath & Body Works around
tail Federation, the nation’s to less congested ports, even noon, while some small
largest retail trade group, pre- chartering their own vessels. shops were largely empty. At
dicts that sales will increase Macy’s CEO Jeff Gennette Fashion Centre mall in the
between 8.5% and 10.5%. said the company is prepared. D.C. suburbs in the after-
Holiday sales increased about “We are deep and we are noon, Macy’s was jammed
8% in 2020 when shoppers, ready,” he said, noting inven- with people, making it dif-
locked down during the early tory levels are up 20% com- ficult to move around the
part of the pandemic, spent pared to last year. “We are in store, while Forever 21 se-