Bleary-eyed shoppers kicked off the holiday season with a bang Friday morning, scoring early-morning discounts and providing fresh signs that customers will spend freely this year.
Hundreds of people lined up at Circuit City at the Northfield Stapleton retail complex, rushing into the store as it opened at 5 a.m.
Judy Brown of Denver got in line at 3 a.m. to buy a 52-inch HDTV for about a thousand dollars.
“It’s not fun,” she said. “It’s freezing. We’re hungry. We gotta use the bathroom.”
But many shoppers said the deep discounts at big-box stores throughout the metro area were well worth losing some sleep and enduring the morning chill. Customers also went online in droves, causing temporary outages for Wal-Mart’s website and Amazon.com.
Noi Phimmasorn, 26, of Aurora was shopping before the sun rose and had most of her gifts purchased by 10 a.m. She and her daughter, Leah, 7, went to Wal-Mart at 5 a.m., Target at 6 a.m. and then rambled to a nearby Macy’s to buy luggage advertised at a rock bottom price.
That’s where their luck ran out.
“It was sold out,” she said, as she browsed at Costco on South Havana Street.
Maria Ramos got up at 4 a.m. and spent an hour and a half in line at Wal-Mart on Tower Road in Aurora waiting for a $169 PSP game system. At 7:30 a.m., Ramos loaded her purchases, which by then included a DVD player, a TV and a slow cooker, into the trunk of her car.
Even so, Ramos said she’ll spend less this year because she and her husband will lose their jobs in February.
Among toy shoppers, Dora the Explorer was in high demand.
While the day after Thanksgiving generally doesn’t rank as the busiest shopping day of the year, one analyst predicted that this year it could top the charts.
“I think Friday will be the biggest shopping day of the year because of all the big-ticket buys,” said Britt Beemer, chairman of America’s Research Group, based in Charleston, S.C. “It was really incredible the number of things people were buying. Clearly TVs are the hot item this year.”
As the day progressed, many metro-area shoppers made their ways from the discount stores into shopping malls.
Joyce Chavez, 31, of Northglenn, and her 4-year-old daughter, Aireona, stood in line shortly before lunchtime to visit Santa at FlatIron Crossing mall in Broomfield. Although Chavez had just begun to shop, she was quite certain of her intentions.
“I’m going to spend more this year. I’m going to go nuts,” Chavez said. She attributed her enthusiasm to a combination of the economy and a cheerful holiday spirit.
That kind of free-spending enthusiasm is welcome news to retailers who count on holiday purchases for the bulk of their annual business.
Danica Goldie, proprietor of Seasons home accessories store on West Main Street in Littleton, said she’ll do about 40 percent of the year’s business during the holiday season.
The Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory at FlatIron Crossing will generate one-third of its sales in the next month, said Jim Christopherson, who owns the store with his wife, Pam.
Gary Horvath was encouraged by the number of bags customers were toting by midmorning at FlatIron Crossing. Horvath is managing director of the business research division at the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
He noted that Macy’s and Old Navy bags were particularly prevalent, and that many mall retailers were also courting customers with early-bird discounts.
Customers noticed the deals too.
Amanda Hildebrandt, 35, of Arvada showed off a purse she scored at Macy’s. Through a combination of markdowns, percent-off promotions and coupons, Hildebrandt said she paid $1.50 for the $65 purse.
Other customers said they were disappointed by the sales.
“It doesn’t seem like the popular stuff is on sale this year,” said Jill Lottie, 37, of Aurora, who was shopping at Wal-Mart in Aurora’s Southlands development. Lottie had been hoping for better sales on things like iPods, DVD players and video games.
Teika Southall, who by 7:30 a.m. had already hit Circuit City, Target and Wal-Mart, agreed. She spent about $600 during her early-morning shopping excursion, but said the bargains were disappointing.
“It’s not like it used to be where it was worth it to get up early,” she said.
While managers at many metro-area stores said traffic was up over last year, retailers at Colorado Mills said Friday morning was generally slow.
“It is like a normal Friday,” said Elias Sdes, who oversees the Bethlehem Handicrafts kiosk at Colorado Mills.
Shoppers seem more reluctant to spend money this year, said Sdes, who sells olive wood crafts from Bethlehem.
“It has been kind of slow,” agreed Steve Hoevel, assistant manager of Pro-Image, which sells sports jerseys. “Everyone might be at Wal-Mart.”
It doesn’t help that the Broncos lost Thursday, he said. “People don’t even look at Jake Plummer jerseys.”
Staff writer Kristi Arellano can be reached at 303-954-1902 or karellano@denverpost.com.
Staff writers Stephen Keating, Tom McGhee, Aldo Svaldi and Andy Vuong contributed to this report.
