display
“I haven't seen that many customers since the beginning of the pandemic.
It's been a fantastic weekend for sales, ”said Allie Vitalino, director of a designer boutique at Simon Shopping Mall in Burlington, Massachusetts.
In the early hours of Black Friday, the special sale of her branch began with a 25 percent discount on all items - and continued to attract shoppers in droves until Sunday evening.
“After months of online shopping, many customers apparently wanted to go shopping and business trips again,” she suspects.
“The people clearly felt the need to get out of the house.
Our customers also wanted to touch the handbags themselves, try on shoes and at least get an idea of the scent of the perfume samples through their face masks. "
Shopping frenzy, despite the disastrous infection situation?
The Center for Disease Control had repeatedly warned that shopping in full stores increased the risk of Covid infection, and the American health authorities had urged citizens not to make a super-spreader event out of Thanksgiving weekend.
And yet, shopping malls, department stores, electronics stores and retail chains did not want to do without the traditionally biggest shopping event of the year this year.
display
With 13 million corona infected people nationwide and around 90,000 pandemic-related hospital patients, shops with super sale events attracted large numbers of customers and, as usual, opened their shop doors in many places at 6 or even 5 a.m. on the busiest weekend of the year.
Although, according to a report by the consulting group Deloitte, for the first time more shoppers bought Black Friday deals online than the bargains in stores, many Americans apparently couldn't resist the sales promotions in malls and department stores.
While the hunt for limited bargains at Black Friday events in previous years repeatedly resulted in rough fights or violent attacks, buyers behaved largely civilized this weekend and mostly followed the mask and distance rules.
In Virginia, buyers stand in line with discipline, keeping a minimum distance.
There used to be fights
Source: REUTERS
display
In order to better distribute the rush of many customers and to limit the number of people in a room, numerous retailers had this time specifically extended the shopping event of the year to several days and sometimes weeks.
Some advertised with “Black November” instead of Black Friday sales.
With other providers, such as the retail giant Target, this time you could register online in advance for individual, time-limited shopping periods.
The name “Black Friday” originally comes from the 1960s, when many shopkeepers were back in the black on the Friday after Thanksgiving thanks to the high sales from Christmas gift buyers.
The National Retail Federation (NRF) estimates sales this Thanksgiving weekend to be four to five percent higher than last year.
In addition to kitchen and fitness equipment for the home, products for home office use such as laptops, standing desks, screens and high-quality reading chairs - as well as loungewear and sneakers - are particularly in demand.
display
Despite the unemployment figure of over 30 million, Americans' desire to buy has increased in recent weeks, the NRF report said.
Consumers would spend less on travel and events such as concerts or sporting events, and consequently would have more money available for consumer goods.
She has not yet evaluated specific sales data for the entire sales weekend, said Vitalino from the boutique, but the first figures look very promising.
"Sometimes it almost felt like it did before the pandemic - apart of course from the corona masks and disinfectants everywhere."
Judy Manzo, owner of a small bookstore in Winchester near Boston, also confirms this positive assessment.
The "Small Business Saturday" (a nationwide campaign to support small, independent businesses on the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend) was a complete success for her long-established bookstore.
“It was pure joy.
Often I could even see the smiles of the customers behind their mask when they were standing at the checkout to pay. "
At dawn, the bargain hunters wait in front of a shopping center in California
Source: AP
With the outbreak of the corona virus, the demand for books in her shop had increased anyway - which was particularly evident this weekend.
Manzo is aware of its exceptional position.
Numerous small business owners in the neighborhood are struggling to survive, and many boutiques in the area are on the verge of ruin.
"In a pandemic, novels are probably better than evening dresses or high heels," says Manzo.
At retail
Black Friday has lost some of its importance for several years due to the virtual "Cyber Monday".
Even before Corona, many Americans had avoided overcrowded department stores on the Friday after Thanksgiving and instead took advantage of the following Monday's special online offers for their Christmas shopping.
Pete Bates also prefers the digital “Cyber Monday” bargains to the Black Friday crush.
"First you should celebrate the family celebration alone - but then go to overcrowded malls?" Bates' voice on the phone sounds incredulous and indignant.
"Since the pandemic, I haven't been able to get ten horses into full shops anyway - and certainly not on Black Friday weekend," emphasizes the chemistry student from Austin, Texas.
Families stick to the rules, bargain hunters don't
"Because of Corona, we had Thanksgiving for the first time without my grandparents, that was pretty sad."
With a heavy heart, his family adhered to the official recommendations and celebrated the family festival in the smallest circle, exclusively with members of their own household.
He could hardly understand full shopping malls on the day after Thanksgiving: "In some photos, the shopping malls seemed so full on the weekend that the number of infections will inevitably have to rise."
Bates' voice sounds resigned.
“They used to run around on Black Friday just to get a TV a few dollars cheaper.
There is obviously nothing to keep Americans away from a supposedly good deal - not even a pandemic. "