Black Friday shoppers stream to malls, say bargains sometimes hard to find
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This story was reported by Tory N. Parrish, Victor Ocasio and Jonathan LaMantia. It was written by Ken Schachter and Parrish.
Black Friday foot traffic was spotty on Long Island as shoppers found fewer deals and a smaller selection for the traditional opening day of the holiday shopping season.
Crowd size varied among Long Island's retail venues, but by most accounts rebounded from the pandemic-impaired levels of 2020.
Westfield South Shore featured holiday music and garland, lights and ornaments hanging from the ceilings of the Bay Shore shopping mall where foot traffic was light early Friday morning.
Gina Marrone and her sister have been going to stores for Black Friday shopping for decades, and neither the COVID-19 pandemic nor the growing popularity of online shopping has changed that, she said while carrying three Bath & Body Works bags at the mall.
"It's a tradition. We've been doing it for like 30 years," said Marrone, a 53-year-old West Islip resident.
She found some good deals at Bath & Body Works, which was offering a once-a-year sale of buy three items, get three free on all products.
Given this year's rising inflation, Marrone planned to be more selective in her purchases, she said.
"I have three kids … I told them to really think about what they want this year because everything is more expensive," said Marrone, who has two sons, 28 and 23, and a daughter, 16.
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Shoppers hit the halls of the Roosevelt Field Mall looking for Black Friday sales. Credit: Howard Schnapp
Patricia Mason was shopping for jewelry at a Banter by Piercing Pagoda kiosk.
She had been at the Westfield South Shore since 5 a.m. for her first stop, JC Penney, said the Wyandanch resident, 53.
"I was looking for bargains and I love to shop … So far, I have found very good deals," said Mason, who bought jewelry from Banter and Macy's for Christmas gifts.
As prices rise on everything from gas to food this year, Mason will buy fewer Christmas gifts for family and friends, she said.
"Because you're trying to save. You still gotta save to live," she said.
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Black Friday shoppers at Westfield South Shore mall in Bay Shore. Credit: Newsday/Alejandra Villa Loarca
Shoppers dodged raindrops on their way into the Walmart Supercenter in Farmingdale Friday morning, where parking spots remained plentiful after the store's 6 a.m. opening.
Still, plenty of big-screen TVs jutted out of customers' carts as they left the store.
Got it done early
Natalie Edwards, 41, was grocery shopping Friday morning and said Walmart seemed less busy than on a normal shopping day. She said she had already completed her Christmas shopping for the season, making most purchases online. Edwards said she is still waiting for a few packages, but most had already been delivered.
"This year they said there would be problems with shipping, so I just figured — get it all done early," said Edwards, who lives in West Babylon.
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Shanelle Tomlin from Wyandanch loads her car with items she bought during Black Friday at Walmart in Commack. Credit: Morgan Campbell
Alan Contreras, 22, bought an artificial Christmas tree for $189 that he said had been priced at $250 last week. The Brooklyn resident said he expects to spend more money buying gifts for his two kids this year.
"The prices were still good," he said. "You have a couple good deals."
Jose Esquivel, 28, lined up at Walmart around 4 a.m. with his niece in search of a PlayStation 5 but came away with other gifts instead including a vacuum, a soundbar and some toys.
PlayStation hunt
"As soon as we were going to go in, they said there were no PS5s," Esquivel said. He was planning to buy a second console to give as a gift after buying a PlayStation 5 on Thursday at GameStop.
The Wyandanch resident said he found the store a little more hectic than last year and some shelves were empty, but he was able to find a video game he was looking for and the soundbar by asking a store clerk to check in the back. Esquivel said he plans to shift more of his shopping online this year.
"With everything with COVID, I might as well play it safe," he said.
Luis and Jason Gonzalez left the store empty-handed. Luis said he had been searching for discounts for Nintendo Switch games but didn’t find any. "They don’t have anything priced that’s on sale," he said.
Walmart was just one stop on Black Friday for the brothers from Amityville. Luis, 18, said he had bought tools for his job as a mechanic at Lowe’s around 6 a.m. and planned to check out deals at GameStop.
Around midday, consumers at the luxury and mass-market retailers of the Americana Manhasset found a live DJ delivering a shopping soundtrack at Lululemon.
Carol Boccia of Searingtown, noting the less stringent mask and crowding restrictions compared to last year, said she was avoiding stores like Gap, which she expected to have the biggest discounts — and the biggest crowds.
"Everything we wanted we found," said Boccia, who was shopping with daughters Michaela and Francesca. "It wasn't tremendous savings, but it was fun."
Shortly after daylight broke, more than 200 shoppers stood in a line that wrapped around the building for a chance to get into the Nike store at Tanger Outlets in Riverhead.
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A line forms outside of Polo Ralph Lauren during early morning Black Friday shopping at Tanger Outlets in Riverhead. Credit: Morgan Campbell
One of shoppers willing to put up with the queue and early morning drizzle was Jeremy Dzigas, 23, of Wantagh.
"I thought maybe the line would’ve died down but it hasn’t, and here we are," said Dzigas.
Dzigas, who was at his fourth store of the day, said Black Friday shopping had become a tradition in his family, though they skipped in-person perusing last year in light of the pandemic.
With the vaccine now widely available, Dzigas said he felt more at ease.
Shelves not bursting
Like some other shoppers, he’s noticed that some of the store shelves were a little lighter than in years past.
"I haven’t personally had any problems with finding anything, but you can see some of the stores definitely have less inventory than they used to have," he said. "It’s visible if you’ve been to those stores in the past."
Katherine Landa, 32, of Copiague, said she began her Tanger Outlets buying spree later in the day than in the past. .
"For us, it is a little late," said Landa, who normally starts Black Friday shopping with her husband William much earlier. "We normally start around 1 in the morning."
Last year was the first time in seven years she didn’t hit the stores.
"With the pandemic, we didn’t come last year. Everything was online," she said.
Now, feeling comfortable with making the annual pilgrimage to the local outlet, she said she’s noticed a shortage online for many of her favorite retailers, including Coach and Michael Kors.
"On the websites there is a shortage of items," she said. "You have to order what you want very fast; you can’t think twice."
At the Crooked Hill Commons shopping center in Commack, Anthony Franzone, 52, of Huntington said he saw no evidence of shortages caused by supply-chain issues.
"Personally, I don’t see it, but I’m not a big-ticket item shopper," he said. "The things that I get are there."
Shanelle Tomlin, 24, of Wyandanch and her mother, Tasheena Mason, 47, arrived at Crooked Hill around 6 a.m.
"Everything I bought was on sale," said Tomlin. "They had a lot in there. Pretty much everything we came for."
Still, Tomlin said that their day was far from done.
Next stop? Home Depot, Tomlin said.
"I moved into an apartment this year so it’s my first time buying a Christmas tree," she said.
Online shopping has been whittling down Black Friday crowds in stores for years, and last year, the pandemic kept more people home.
But Black Friday still is projected to be the top in-store shopping day of the year, according to Sensormatic Solutions, a Boca Raton, Florida-based provider of technology to the retail industry.
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Black Friday shoppers at Westfield South Shore mall in Bay Shore,. Credit: Newsday/Alejandra Villa Loarca
The day is part of a five-day period, including Thanksgiving and Small Business Saturday, that is considered the unofficial kickoff of the holiday shopping season.
Why fewer discounts?
But with consumer demand high, retailers raising workers’ wages to help with labor shortages, and supply chain issues delaying merchandise’s arrival to stores, shoppers should expect fewer deals over the five days than in past years, said Alexa Driansky, a senior vice president in the retail practice at AlixPartners, a Manhattan-based consulting firm.
"So, all of this is causing prices to rise and retailers don’t need to take as many discounts," she said.
U.S. online shoppers spent $5.1 billion on Thanksgiving and are expected to spend between $8.8 billion and $9.6 billion on Black Friday, according to the Adobe Analytics data released Friday.
For the full holiday shopping season covering November and December, Adobe is restating its forecast that online sales will rise 10% year-over-year to a record $207 billion.
Despite online retail accounting for a larger of share of overall retail sales annually — shopping via the web accounted for 23% of holiday sales last year — the vast majority of shoppers still head inside brick-and-mortar stores to buy gifts.
In fact, 40% of holiday retail traffic in stores in the United States will take place on 10 days this year, though foot traffic is projected to be down 10% to 15% compared to the 2019 holiday season, before the pandemic began, according to Sensormatic.
November and December retail sales are expected to be record-breaking, in both dollars spent and the growth rate, rising an estimated 14% to $886 billion compared to the same two months last year, according to IHS Markit, a market information service headquartered in London
But continued supply chain issues will delay products arriving to stores and reduce the merchandise variety, especially for small businesses.
Retailers’ number of out-of-stock items are up a record 325% percent compared to two years ago, Driansky said.
Projected busiest in-store shopping days in 2021
1. Friday, Nov. 26 — Black Friday
2. Saturday, Dec. 18 — Super Saturday
3. Thursday, Dec. 23 — Thursday before Christmas
4. Saturday, Dec. 11 — second Saturday in December
5. Sunday, Dec. 26 — day after Christmas, aka “Boxing Day”
6. Wednesday, Dec. 22 — Wednesday before Christmas
7. Saturday, Nov. 27 — Saturday after Thanksgiving (Small Business Saturday)
8. Saturday, Dec. 4 — first Saturday in December
9. Tuesday, Dec. 21 — Tuesday before Christmas
10. Sunday, Dec. 19 — Sunday before Christmas
Source: Sensormatic Solutions
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