Holiday shoppers get an early start to find deals at Duluth-area stores
Sipping a Red Bull and sporting a quick gait, Dolly Thygeson of Duluth entered Miller Hill Mall to begin her Black Friday shopping. At 3 a.m. The 23-year-old mother of one is part of a trend to begin holiday shopping earlier and earlier.By: Andy Greder, Duluth News Tribune
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Sipping a Red Bull and sporting a quick gait, Dolly Thygeson of Duluth entered Miller Hill Mall to begin her Black Friday shopping. At 3 a.m.
The 23-year-old mother of one is part of a trend to begin holiday shopping
earlier and earlier. Retailers such as Old Navy and Wal-Mart have crept up their Black Friday opening times into the wee hours, while others such as Gander Mountain and Shopko open even earlier, on Thanksgiving Day.
“Black Friday customers are excited to shop, and we want to take advantage of that with a 3 a.m. opening time to give our customers a jumpstart on their shopping,” Beth Schellin, an Old Navy district manager, said of the chain’s new opening time.
Black Friday regular Heather Senarighi of Duluth woke up at 2:30 a.m. to cash in on $5 fleeces for her three children at Old Navy. Less than an hour later, she was waiting patiently near the end of a long checkout line.
“It gets earlier and earlier every year,” she said.
Senarighi said the earlier start times are because retailers are searching for an added niche in the tough economy.
“They just want to get people out earlier,” said Senarighi, whose Friday shopping schedule included further stops at Kohl’s, Target, Wal-Mart and back to the mall.
The National Retail Federation expects up to 134 million people to shop throughout this weekend, up from 128 million who planned to do so in 2008, according to a survey by BIGresearch. The survey said 10 percent would start from midnight to 3 a.m., with another 28 percent hitting stores from 4 to 6 a.m.
Red-eyed Jeremy Thompson skipped sleeping and said he was at Wal-Mart when it opened at 12:01 a.m. The Duluth father of two said he has participated in Black Friday for about eight years straight to get most of his holiday shopping out of the way.
“It’s just great deals for the family and kids,” he said.
Thompson might be a Black Friday diehard, but he doesn’t think shopping on Thanksgiving Day is such a great idea.
“It was 6, then 5, now 3 [a.m.], and even Wal-Mart was midnight,” Thompson said. “They are just going to keep going earlier and earlier, and before you know it, they will be open on Thursday morning. How early can they go? I don’t think they should. They should just pick a time and stick with it.”
On Thanksgiving afternoon, Gander Mountain, Shopko and K-Mart were three hubs of shopping activity in an otherwise barren retail landscape around Miller Hill Mall.
As the lyric “Christmas will be here before you know it” played on the Gander Mountain loudspeaker, several men looked into binoculars and women grabbed sweatshirts as Joe and Susan Halasz of Atikokan, Ontario, found a bargain on a backpack.
The Halaszes traveled south for Black Friday, but got a jump on the shopping Thursday afternoon. The gray backpack for their son’s upcoming trip to Europe cost $112, a markdown from $249. Added value came from favorable exchange rates to the U.S. dollar.
“That’s the driving factor,” Joe Halasz said, “that and the good selections.”
Gander Mountain went to Thanksgiving Day hours in 2007 for two reasons: to accommodate hunters still in season and to attract holiday shoppers, said David Ewald, a company spokesman.
“For many of our customers, Thanksgiving is actually a hunting day,” Ewald said. “Since we are open then, we want people to come in and take advantage of the deals that are going to be there.”
Friends Missy Ion and Jennifer Cheslak, both of Duluth, are more traditional Black Friday shoppers; they took their place in the later crowd at Target — at 4 a.m.
“We’ve come out earlier, but not this year,” Cheslak said. “We’ve been here at 3, sat in the parking lot for a half-hour and stood in line for a half-hour. It was a lot colder, but then we said it wasn’t worth it.”
But three Duluth college students found it worthwhile to wait in line overnight. Josh Schuder, David Rovano and Steve Riddell were the first in the Target line at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, about 10 hours before the doors opened. The three young men got their hands on the 32-inch Westinghouse TVs that were being sold for $246, down from $429.
By 5:08 a.m., eight minutes after Target opened, all 66 Westinghouse TVs were nabbed.
“I just think it’s fun,” said Thygeson, the eager, energy drink-sipping shopper at Old Navy. “If people are willing to get up early, they are not going to be grouchy with the experience. If you are purposely and willingly getting up at 3 in the morning, you are not going to be, ‘Ah, this [stinks]!’ People are excited and happier on Black Friday.”
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