Black Friday shopping is alive and well — with some COVID-19 modifications
.JPG "Best Buy employee Kane Foreman helps customer Kevin Tackett load the three televisions he purchased into his vehicle at Crossroads plaza on Friday, November 20, 2020 in Cary, N.C.")
Shoppers like Brenda Ward in Raleigh have spent years avoiding large and unruly Black Friday crowds by doing their holiday shopping early.
In the time of surging COVID-19 cases, that habit is paying off.
“I took my pictures here so I know what I want and then I go and order them online,” said Ward, 50, who browsed stores at Crabtree Valley Mall on Saturday morning before online shopping. “I don’t think it’s safe to [go into big crowds] right now.”
The shopping rush is here ahead of Black Friday and Small Business Saturday, but this year retailers have put safety measures in place that aim to curtail the traditionally large crowds of shoppers to prevent spreading the coronavirus.
“With the holiday season upon us, Crabtree has numerous safety protocols in place to ensure our guests’, employees’ and community’s safety and health,” said Leslie Himley, a mall spokesperson, in an email to The News & Observer.
At Crabtree Valley Mall, which hosts a range of popular department and clothing retailers, this will include expanding operating hours on Black Friday to spread out customer traffic, additional sanitation, coordinating individually with stores to manage lines and cut them if necessary and having security staff monitor shopper traffic, according to Himley.
The mall’s curbside pick-up program will be in effect as well, allowing 100 spaces for customers to get ordered items.
But shoppers like Ward say shop early or online to stay safe this season.
“Some stores are going to have maximum capacity and you’re going to have to wait in long lines and it’s going to be difficult,” she said. “People aren’t used to being six feet apart. Automatically, people are going to be getting next to each other without thinking about it. Everybody’s in a hurry. Everybody’s on the edge. Everybody’s trying to get that item.”
Big-box retailers
The biggest magnets for mobs of shoppers are establishing companywide measures, too: Walmart is breaking with its tradition and plans to close on Thanksgiving Day when it used to begin Black Friday around 6 p.m. Thursday.
Many of the retailer’s deals are online-only through November with many of them dropping after 7 p.m. the day before Thanksgiving, Business Insider reported.
A traditional Black Friday frenzy destination, Best Buy is offering curbside pickup, same-day shipping and free next-day delivery to keep eager shoppers at bay. According to its website, store employees will monitor shopper traffic and enforce strict mask-wearing.
Target is following some of the same measures, including enhancing same-day delivery services, ways to skip long checkout lines in store, and allowing shoppers to reserve a spot if there’s a line outside.
Many big retailers started their holiday deals as early as October and are extending them to December to spread out traffic in stores due to the pandemic.
Small businesses and COVID-19
“A lot of local merchants will be offering specials or deals but at the same time they’re doing that, they’re going to be doing it safely — they’re not going to be dong it to attract hundreds of people, you know, large crowd sizes,” said Jennifer Martin, executive director of Shop Local Raleigh and the Greater Raleigh Merchants Association.
Making shoppers feel safe is crucial for small businesses, many of which were severely hurt by the pandemic and are counting on Thanksgiving weekend shopping to stay afloat.
“This next month is a lifeline for a lot of us,” said Pam Blondin, the owner of Deco Raleigh, in an interview. “This year, our sales are running at about half of what they typically are.”
Blondin and others in the small business community are counting on increased shopper traffic on Black Friday and Small Business Saturday while actively looking out for shopper safety.
Deco Raleigh, a staple local gift and housewares shop, is allowing only 10 people in the store at a time and debuted its online store for the first time this year to promote sales while keeping shoppers safe.
Local retailers like the Great Outdoor Provision Co. in Cameron Village began offering online ordering and item reservations at their store to limit crowds ahead of Thanksgiving weekend.
“For so many small businesses, this weekend is going to basically make or break our holiday season,” Jessica Throneburt, the owner of the Garner boutique Little Details, told The N&O.
Thanksgiving weekend for her store is like “their Super Bowl weekend,” Throneburt said, but customers will be limited to 25 at a time inside.
Like many small and big retailers, Little Details isn’t doing typical doorbuster deals that have attracted big weekend crowds in past years. However, this year shoppers are getting better deals and bargains, since the store is offering more aggressive discounts to increase cash flow in a recession and to compete with big box retailers attracting pandemic crowds.
This story was originally published November 22, 2020 at 7:00 AM.
