AURORA — For the third straight year, Richard Guzman camped out at the Southlands Best Buy store in Aurora to score Black Friday door-buster specials.
Despite landing a spot at the front line for the first time, Guzman will spend less money on gifts this year. He said that has more to do with how much he spent last year — $4,000 — than the sluggish economy.
“Last year we bought five laptops, two desktops, TVs, cameras,” said Guzman, 58, who is married and has one daughter. “This year, we’ll spend about $1,700 or $1,800.”
The retired U.S. Postal Service worker said he’s only suffered paper losses from the economic downturn.
“My 401k is getting its butt kicked. I lost over 55 percent, but that’s long-term,” Guzman said.
Although metro area retail chains were able to attract hundreds of early birds like years past, some shoppers said the crowds were lighter this year, attributing the drop to a lack of big-ticket specials, Internet deals and the economy. Some retailers also advertised deep discounts a week earlier this year.
Sue Ogden, owner of Ogden Construction, said she planned to tighten her budget so she wouldn’t have to cut into her business expenses as the country navigates through the recession.
“We want to keep our employees we’ve had for 30 years,” the Aurora resident said while standing in line at a Kohl’s store. “We don’t want to have to lay them off.”
Ogden estimated she would only spend $200 this year, about a fifth of what she usually spends. She’ll be giving handmade gifts this year, she said.
For others, the economic troubles won’t change their spending habits.
“It doesn’t affect what my kids want,” said Lavesta Kenison, an Aurora resident with two children.
Kenison started her Black Friday shopping at Walmart and purchased a 42-inch LCD TV for $598.
Kelli Jackson said she shopped online at The Limited, Barnes & Noble and Gymboree on Thanksgiving Day before showing up early for the Sports Authority door-buster sale.
“If its free shipping, I’m buying it online,” said the Centennial resident, who estimated that she would do nearly half of her Christmas shopping online.
Cindy Dodson, a Best Buy store manager, said the line at the Southlands store was a little shorter this year. But the hottest items were the same: deeply discounted laptops and desktops.
What wasn’t the same were the store’s amenities for the early birds.
“The hardest thing was they didn’t have any port-a-potties, and last year they did,” said Patrick Adkins, who showed up at the store at 7:30 a.m. on Thanksgiving with Guzman. “So we had to walk to Walmart.”
