The aisles of Fred Meyer in Fisher’s Touchdown had been bustling the morning of Black Friday, when the shop anticipated hundreds of individuals to spend cash there.
The five-day weekend between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday holds a number of the busiest procuring days of the 12 months for retailers nationwide. The Nationwide Retail Federation reported {that a} report 200.4 million folks shopped final 12 months in the course of the Thanksgiving vacation weekend.
The federation anticipated 183.4 million folks to buy this 12 months.
Vancouver resident Sara Cupelli was one in all them. Enticed by Fred Meyer’s $10 sale on Crock-Pots, she loaded her cart with small home equipment on the Fisher’s Touchdown retailer. She’s not normally an enormous Black Friday shopper. However she has a brand new home to outfit.
“Black Friday has been a huge success so far,” stated Kendra Doyel, vp of merchandising for Fred Meyer.
Doyel stated a line snaked across the Fisher’s Touchdown retailer, 16600 S.E. McGillivray Blvd., when doorways opened at 5 a.m. A few of these folks, she added, had been standing in line since 3:30 a.m.
“Associates have been in the store since about midnight to prepare for them,” Doyel stated.
Doyel travels to quite a few Fred Meyer places on Black Friday. The shops, she stated, have appeared a bit busier this 12 months.
Doyel stated Fred Meyer’s 132 shops have averaged about 5,500 buyers throughout a number of Black Fridays. It’s one of many busiest procuring days of the 12 months for the retailer.
Folks come for the well-known half-off sock sale, however Doyel stated Fred Meyer additionally presents good offers on televisions, AirPods, attire, toys and seasonal decorations. And the sale extends via right now.
Doyel and her staff began making ready for this Black Friday proper after Christmas final 12 months. They began procuring merchandise, making a market plan after which a finances.
“Really, we’ve had this year’s plan buttoned up and ready to go for several months now,” she stated.
A Nationwide Retail Federation survey reported clothes, present playing cards and toys had been the highest items folks anticipated to provide this vacation season, adopted by books, video video games and different media, in addition to meals and sweet.
The survey stated this 12 months’s prime toys had been Lego bricks; Sizzling Wheels and automobiles for boys; and Barbies, dolls and Lego for ladies.
The retail federation expects vacation buyers to spend about $640 every on items for household, buddies and colleagues.
Black Friday isn’t the identical vacation it was 10 or 15 years in the past, Doyel stated.
Retailers like Fred Meyer have unfold out their offers forward of Thanksgiving weekend.
“Maybe it’s slowed down that rush first thing in the morning,” Doyel stated.
But it surely’s nonetheless very a lot an occasion, she stated.