ROCKFORD (WIFR) — Black Friday has been in session for almost 24 hours now people may be fascinated on how everyone’s shopping experience has been, but they might forget about the store owners. 23 News went to Cherryvale mall and asked store owners what they went through before and during the eve of Black Friday.
The White Knuckle owner Dave Hughes said, “We were unsure how it was going to work opening at midnight, but there were people running through the hallways–it was a mad house!”
Hughes opened his store The White Knuckle in Cherryvale mall less than a month ago. This was his first Black Friday as a store owner and he’s been there since midnight.
�A lot of you� braved the lines today and are sharing your Black Friday experience on our Facebook page.
Sharon says, ” I was pleased to see quite a few men working at Bergner's, gave me a great sense of security.”
Jenny avoided lines saying, “I did my shopping last week and got better deals.”
Hughes said, “It’s been a long day; haven’t been to bed yet. I went straight from Thanksgiving to here.”
The National Retail Federation said in a recent survey up to 152 million people planned to shop Black Friday weekend.
Hughes said, “We just had to get stocked up and make sure there was enough merchandise here and then we had to figure out what we were going to put on sale. So we just did everything 20 percent off!”
Rogers and Hollands Jewelers put more items on sale compared to years past just in time for the biggest month of engagements.
Evan Schillingburg from Rogers and Hollands Jewelers siad, “As far as our engagement rings, we’ve got solitaires, we’ve got bridal sets, anywhere between an extra 30% off to an extra 50% off!”
Many people have been at Cherryvale Mall since midnight including Santa and some hoping to get their Christmas lists in early.
3-year-old Carter Perteete said, “But I saw Santa… I don’t know… He didn’t even say anything!”
The National Retail Federation said this year's Black Friday can be summed up in one word: average. Sales did increase compared to last year, but only by two-point-eight percent.
That two-point-eight percent grew this years holiday spending to 465 billion dollars.
The Changing Face and Name of Black Friday
The internet has changed how we shop on Black Friday, although it wasn’t as easy with a dial-up connection as some of you might remember�and dread remembering.
We went back to our 23 News archive vault and found this interview from 1998:
Psychologist Joyce Brothers said back in 1998, “One of the ways I did it this holiday is for the first time I shopped online. I went online with Amazon.com and found that I could get more than three million gifts and that it was convenient.”
Black Friday was commonly referred to as the ‘Friday after Thanksgiving’ until the mid 80s, when the name ‘Black Friday’ was coined in infrequent references in the media. The term has grown in popularity over the past 20 years.
Contrary to common belief, the day isn’t always the busiest shopping day of the year: that honor typically went to, and sometimes still goes to, the Saturday before Christmas.
National Notes
Local Police Departments tell us the shopping chaos was not chaotic at all in the Stateline; however, that wasn’t the case at a California Walmart. At that Walmart, 20 people were pepper sprayed by a woman trying to keep other shoppers away from her merchandise. Members of the crowd left with a few bumps and bruises, no serious injuries were reported.
The violence intensified at a North Carolina Macy’s. Officers in Fayetteville say two people fired gunshots inside and outside of a busy mall. No one was injured, but witnesses describe the scene as chaotic as shoppers tried to leave the center.
No comments:
Post a Comment