Frigid temperatures and occasional flurries weren’t enough to deter some of Colorado’s most dedicated shoppers Friday.
Intrepid deal-seekers gathered in the wee hours to snap up discounts, with the expectation that Friday would be their only chance to get the best prices.
“This is the first time I’ve gone shopping this early,” said Chris Lucio at the J.C. Penney’s at the Northfield Stapleton shopping center at 3:40 a.m. Friday. He planned to purchase an MP3 player — for $49.88 — and other gifts.
Within an hour of opening, SuperTarget at Northfield Stapleton had sold out of its advertised $199 televisions, $549 televisions, $139 GPS units and $89 cameras.
The store had hundreds of customers coming in at its 6 a.m. opening. It was about 50 percent more people than last year, bumping sales in the first hour up about the same percentage, said store manager Bob Schraeder.
Gary Rodehorst, who went to a Wal-Mart, Target and Circuit City on Friday morning, said he didn’t find a lot of good deals.
“You’d think with the economic reports there’d be better deals, but there’s not,” he said.
But so far during his shopping trip, he hadn’t seen any fistfights — “no blood this year, so that’s a good thing,” Rodehorst said.
He said that even before going out Friday, he had already finished most of his Christmas purchases.
“This is opportunity shopping,” Rodehorst said.
The economy, or how consumers perceived it, appeared to be playing a large role in many purchasing decisions this year.
It’s “definitely in the back of my mind as far as gas prices,” said David Johnson, shopping at Best Buy at Interstate 70 and Tower Road. And, “it seems like last year there were better deals.”
Shopper Linda Casto said it’s “just the economy, gas and everything” that is causing her to look at spending less this year.
Colorado Mills mall shopper Geri Aldridge of Littleton said she was pleased with the deals she saw but didn’t plan to spend as much this year.
“The budget is tighter,” Aldridge said.
In addition to the economy, toy recalls weighed heavily on shoppers’ minds. According to a survey by retail group Maritz Research, 53 percent of shoppers are planning on buying toys; 22 percent said they wouldn’t buy toys from China.
Annette Hobart, shopping at a Toys R Us in Aurora, said her kids had for months asked for Aqua Dots, a toy that was recently recalled because pieces were coated with a dangerous chemical.
Before the recall, “I said, ‘Well, we’ll think about it for Christmas,’ ” Hobart said. “Well, forget that.”
At Best Buy at I-70 and Tower Road at 10:30 Friday morning, shopper Pam Penner was leisurely cruising for DVDs on sale.
“This year I didn’t go out for the early-morning rush,” she said. “Things seem to have thinned out quite a bit.”
Britt Beemer, president of America’s Research Group, a South Carolina marketing and research firm, said Friday morning was as busy across the country as he expected, with stores seeing enormous lines of people.
“Customers learned from last year that the best deal on a big-ticket item — such as a computer or TV — was on ‘Black Friday,’ ” he said.
The day after Thanksgiving is called Black Friday because it was once regarded as the day when retailers’ bottom line moved into the black for the year because of the crush of holiday shopping.
While the day is occasionally the busiest shopping day of the year, it is increasingly overshadowed by the Saturday before Christmas. Nonetheless, the deep discounts available on Black Friday have turned it into a popular event, and experts say it can be a gauge of how willing consumers will be to spend during the rest of the season.
Beemer also said there appeared to be more women out shopping than men. Last year, more men turned out to escort spouses and other family members, purportedly due to several violent episodes at stores selling the Xbox gaming console.
“There are not as many men out this year, so there’s probably less spending,” Beemer said. “With both spouses present, couples feel more comfortable making big-ticket purchases.”
Overall, retail industry analysts expected a good turnout for the first official day of the holiday shopping season. Exact counts on Black Friday spending won’t be available until later this week.
Some of the best sales occurred soon after midnight, leaving parking lots and shops at places like the Outlets at Silverthorne eerily empty Friday morning when the sun came up.
The outlet stores opened at midnight with large discounts and giveaways, including a hundred free lift tickets. Store managers said traffic was heaviest during the first two hours and then tapered off as the night wore on.
“From midnight to 2 a.m., it was crazy,” said Ryan Jackson, a team manager at the Timberland Store. Customers applied multiple levels of discounts, walking away with $100 work boots for under $20.
Candice Corlett, president of WSL Strategic Retail in New York, said younger people in particular like to be out in the middle of the night shopping.
“This has become like shopping sport,” she said. “It’s fun to score the sale.”
