Business Day

Black Friday Online Shopping Surges as Some Store Crowds Shrink

By The New York Times

In shops across the country, including the empty malls of Georgia and the “not too crazy” crowds at struggling J. Crew, the relative calm that accompanied Black Friday shopping this year belied a frenzy for deals — many of them on the web.
  • Molly Logsdon, left, and her cousin, Jayme Geisendorfer at the Disney Outlet store at St. Louis Premium Outlets. Whitney Curtis for The New York Times
  • Will Fanger, 5, top, and his brother Sam Fanger, 2, shop with their father, Justin Fanger, at the Disney Outlet store at St. Louis Premium Outlets. Whitney Curtis for The New York Times
Shopping doesn't suit everyone inside Disney Outlet store at St. Louis Premium Outlets. Whitney Curtis for The New York Times

So Many Choices: Shopping in Santa Sweaters or Taking a Nap

  • Robert Torres, a manager at Shoe Palace inside the Barton Creek Square mall in Austin, Tex., began letting customers into his store two at a time starting at 5:45 a.m on Friday. Ilana Panich-Linsman for The New York Times
  • The scene at the Barton Creek Square mall in Austin, Tex., early Friday morning. Some stores were open at 5 a.m. Ilana Panich-Linsman for The New York Times
  • Shannon Clay Jr. performs tricks on a Power Board at the Barton Creek Square mall, while shoppers watch. Ilana Panich-Linsman for The New York Times
  • Elise Pitts, 7, and Logan Pitts, 5, window shop in front of a Build-a-Bear store inside Barton Creek Square. Ilana Panich-Linsman for The New York Times
Shoppers at the Barton Creek Square mall in Austin, Tex., showed up early Friday morning, some on the hunt for new Nike shoes that had just became available. Ilana Panich-Linsman for The New York Times

Crowds Grow in Austin

Updated: 3:55 p.m.

AUSTIN, Tex. — After an anemic beginning in the pre-dawn hours Friday morning, Barton Creek Square, a venerable upscale shopping center with more than 180 retailers, was swarming with customers later in the morning, prompting at least one store supervisor to revise his assessment of how things were looking.

Just before 5 a.m., with no more than 20 cars parked outside each of the main entrances, it looked like a light day. Signs on a big glass door lured customers with the promise of “Today’s Deals and Steals.”

Some stores were just opening, while others were about another hour away from opening. Giants such as J.C. Penney and Macy’s had opened on Thursday to a crush of Thanksgiving Day shoppers, and remained open through the night to soldier on into Black Friday.

It was just before 5 a.m. and 43-year-old Shannon Britton, her son, Cameron, 11, and daughter, Gabby, 8, had already been shopping for hours at retailers in other parts of town when they walked into mall looking for those deals and steals.

They left their apartment well before midnight and checked out other stores before descending on Barton Creek.

Cameron was in pursuit of an Xbox One and said he had already done extensive research online in advance of Thanksgiving and Black Friday. Gabby had already bought some long-sleeve shirts and other apparel when the trio arrived at Barton Creek Square. Even though they were sleepless after several hours of shopping, they showed no signs of slowing down and seemed to be enjoying themselves.

“We wanted to go for fun,” Ms. Britton explained.

At least a half-dozen shoppers were browsing through GameStop after it opened at 5 a.m. and the manager, Andres Cifuentes, said the game store had drawn just under 20 customers and had sold “plenty of items” in the first 15 minutes. Nevertheless, he described this year’s volume of Black Friday activity as “slow” compared with other years, and he attributed the fall-off to the move by other stores to open on Thanksgiving evening or at midnight, attracting customers who previously did their shopping on Black Friday. Mr. Cifuentes said his store had opened at midnight in previous years.

By noon, it was clear he had gotten his wish as he and other store employees were assisting an endless stream of customers. “Busy,” he said in updating his description. “It’s definitely busier than I was expecting it to get compared to what this morning was looking like.”

— David Montgomery

Sue Chell, a visitor from England, shopping on Friday at Macy's in New York. Dina Litovsky for The New York Times

Winter Is Coming ... ?

Balmy weather across much of the country has made for some gorgeous weekends this fall, but it’s been a drag on retailers, who stocked up on winter coats and boots that are drawing scant interest from shoppers.

Outside of a winter storm brewing in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas, the mercury crept up again in many areas on Black Friday, including in New York, where daytime temperatures hit the mid-60s.

Does the weather spell more bad news for stores? Not necessarily, said Gerald L. Storch, chief executive of Hudson’s Bay Company, which runs Saks Fifth Avenue, Saks off Fifth and Lord & Taylor.

“I’m glad today is warm. The worst thing for Black Friday is bad weather. When you have snowstorms and really cold weather, people don’t come out to shop,” Mr. Storch said.

“The best situation is what we did have this week, where it was really cold on Monday and Tuesday, and it got people to think: Winter really is coming,” he said. “Now we just want it to get cold again, fast.”

Mr. Storch added that traffic and sales had been brisk so far at Lord & Taylor, open all Thanksgiving and Black Friday, and at Saks, which opened Friday morning.

The fine jewelry department was especially busy at Saks, while a woman’s cashmere sweater for $40 at Lord & Taylor was the hottest single item in the entire company, Mr. Storch said.

— Hiroko Tabuchi

Paige Levy, 13, tries on boots with her mother and sister at Cavender's Boot City in Austin, Tex. Ilana Panich-Linsman for The New York Times

Early Bird Specials on Boots

AUSTIN, Tex. – The Cavender’s Boot City store in south Austin opened at 7 a.m., two hours earlier than normal, with a three-hour early bird special featuring coupons of up to 25 percent off and mark-downs on men’s and women’s boots.

The Western apparel store is one of 72 Cavender’s locations in seven states.

The store manager, Jody Mancusco, wearing a Resistol Showdown Western hat and Black Jack ostrich boots, described business as “just steady - not crazy; not running in the door knocking each other down.”

More than two dozen customers were browsing through the store about 9 a.m. Lori Simonetti, 43, of Austin said she left the house at 7:30 and made a stop at Kohl’s before hitting Cavender’s to shop for jeans for her 15-year-old son, Cole. She said she shops on Black Friday “pretty much every year.”

She decided not to go out on Thanksgiving this year.

— David Montgomery

  • Bella Skinner, 6, tries to spot her father, who is among the many customers on the morning of Black Friday. Cabela's, a sporting goods store south of Austin offered discounts and giveaways in the first five hours of opening on Friday morning. Ilana Panich-Linsman for The New York Times
  • Rowdy Calvert and his children Rivers, 4, and Cinch, 7, of Burnett, Texas, have just purchaed a 64-gun gun safe on sale during Black Friday deals offered at Cabela's. Ilana Panich-Linsman for The New York Times
Shoppers at Cabela's Ilana Panich-Linsman for The New York Times

Sporting Goods Stores Draw the Crowds

AUSTIN, Tex. - Throngs of customers, many clad in outdoor gear, swarmed through the Cabela’s sporting goods store in Buda, about 20 miles south of Austin, drawn by promotions on a wide array of guns, fishing gear and other outdoor products.

The promise of more than $15,000 in Black Friday giveaways produced a line of nearly 800 customers who were waiting outside for the 5 a.m. opening, including some who arrived as early as Wednesday night, said general manager Enrique Mendez.

Before the doors opened, Mr. Mendez worked his way along the line, giving the first 600 customers who were 18 or older “mystery envelopes” that assured them of random prizes.

The prizes included five Winchester bolt-action rifle combos, as well as binoculars, smokers, rangefinders and gift cards.

Hundreds of customers remained in the store throughout late morning to take advantage of deep discounts. Mr. Mendez said up to 70 percent of the doorbuster items were gone by 8:30 a.m.

Rowdy Calvert, a 35-year-old plumber-pipefitter and an avid hunter, drove 60 miles from his hometown of Burnet with his son, Cinch, 7, daughter, Rivers, 4, and a friend to buy a gun safe, marked down from $2,100 to $1,599.

The 915-pound safe, which holds 64 guns, was loaded onto the bed of his Chevy pickup for the family’s journey home. Mr. Calvert also bought a discounted pair of binoculars.

Mr. Calvert said he and his friend made plans for the trip earlier in the week and “decided to make a go of it while our wives were out doing their shopping.”

— David Montgomery

Neiman Marcus Scrambles to Revive Website

Screenshot of Neiman Marcus's website when the site was down. NeimanMarcus.com

Neiman Marcus is scrambling to revive its website after it crashed early Black Friday, and appeared wobbly on and off into the afternoon.

Shoppers visiting the site Friday morning were greeted with a short error message and a link to the company’s sister sites, including that of the upscale Bergdorf Goodman.

(But shoppers beware: That cute Oscar de la Renta embroidered silk dress in navy could set you back $3,469, even on sale.)

The Neiman Marcus site appeared to have intermittent problems later in the day.

“The team is working fervently to get the site back up,” Ginger Reeder, a spokesman for Neiman Marcus, said in an email.

Ms. Reeder said she could not confirm when the site went down, or what caused the problem. CNBC earlier reported that the site had been mostly unavailable since 8 a.m.

— Hiroko Tabuchi

Online Shopping Is Gaining Ground

BB-8 droid, sold out online. David Mcnew/Reuters

The Internet is stealing much of brick-and-mortar stores’ holiday thunder.

Adobe, which tracked more than 180 million visits to over 4,500 United States retail websites this Thanksgiving, said shoppers spent $1.73 billion online on Thursday – or 22 percent more than 2014. Almost 60 percent of the traffic was coming from mobile devices.

Most of the top sellers were electronics, Adobe said, including the Samsung 4K TV, Sony PlayStation 4, iPad Air 2 and Xbox One.

Another strong category was toys. Lego Dimensions, Barbie Dream House, and the BB-8 droid robot sold out online.

Discounts averaging 26 percent off were driving higher sales this year, Adobe said, and average online purchases ticked up 5 percent from last year to $162. Doorbuster-type sales made up about 40 percent of sales volume.

Early data for Black Friday showed less oomph, likely because so much spending was pulled forward a day. Online sales have grown about 15 percent from 2014 so far, with shoppers spending 822 million online between midnight and 11 a.m.

Adobe had expected sales to have jumped 19 percent by now. Adobe now expects Black Friday to generate $2.6 billion in total online sales, slightly lower than it forecast.

“Early morning Black Friday shopping is lower than expected due to the surge of shopping on Thanksgiving Day, and many of the most-wanted products are already out of stock,” said Tamara Gaffney, principal research analyst, Adobe Digital Index.

“Retailers are expected to release more sale items throughout the day today in an attempt to keep the sales volume activity going.”

Over all, holiday spending is expected to grow at a far slower pace. The National Retail Federation, a trade group, expects retail sales online and in stores in November and December to rise at a rate of 3.7 percent, to $630 billion — slightly less than last year’s 4.1 percent gain.

— Hiroko Tabuchi

  • The Gallery at South DeKalb. Adriane Quinlan for The New York Times
  • Shoppers were scarce in the Gallery at South DeKalb mall. Adriane Quinlan for The New York Times
Gallery at South DeKalb Adriane Quinlan for The New York Times

The Worrying Sound of Silence

DECATUR, Ga. — In wingtip shoes and a fedora, James Eldridge unfolded The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and proceeded to read it, back to front.

Even though he had started work at the New York Fashion shop two hours early on Friday, no customers had entered. “Here, it won’t get busy,” Mr. Eldridge said.

Or as Shelby Finley, 19, an employee of a kiosk just outside that sold incense and scented oils put it: “It’s dead.”

Opened in 1968, the Gallery at South DeKalb was once a lively shopping destination.

In 2001, one of its anchor tenants – J.C. Penney – moved to a nearby mall. The mall now hosts eight empty storefronts and two vacant kiosks. Planters of plastic ivy are coated in dust, another sign of a growing number of dead or dying malls across the country.

Its anchor store – Macy’s – had opened the previous evening at 6 p.m. for Black Friday deals. On Friday morning, Aly Oza, an employee at a cellphone sales kiosk, scrolled the Internet.

Down the hall at Sunglass Carnival, Ali Moosvi caught up on news of Roger Federer’s defeat, since no customers had stopped by, despite a 10 percent sale on all items.

Walking down the corridor, a cadre of five deputy sheriffs outnumbered shoppers.

Typically, if the mall were busy, Nashaia Beasley, 18, a sales associate at DTLR, would expect to help 20 to 30 people. But by 10 a.m. on Friday, there had only been six. “I really hope it’s going to get busier later in the day,” she said.

Bridget Williams preferred the mall dead – or at least quiet. Ms. Williams had steered her two sons, Deondriss, 9, and Devin, 8, to Kids Foot Locker specifically because she predicted that the store would be empty.

“It’s not as crowded as the other stores,” she said. “And the sales are great.” So each boy got a pair of new Nike sneakers.

While some shoppers may enjoy the quiet, Mr. Eldridge worried about the broader silence.

He saw the mall’s vacant corridor as a sign of an industry decimated by online shopping options and the recession.

“People just don’t get up and come out like they used to. I think it’s about played out. Back in the day when the economy was good, about 2004, we had lots; couldn’t cash ‘em out quick enough. People had money.

“Back at that time, Black Friday meant something to people because they had a lot of money to spend. It doesn’t matter today.”

— Adriane Quinlan

  • Swen-Chi Chu and Usama Youseaf look for deals outside the Game Stop in Herald Square. Dolly Faibyshev for The New York Times
  • Workers at Kmart. Dolly Faibyshev for The New York Times
  • Shoopers inside a Best Buy in Flatiron district of Manhattan. Dolly Faibyshev for The New York Times
  • A shopper catching a cab with a newly purchased Samsung television. Dolly Faibyshev for The New York Times
Shoppers in Manhattan this morning. Dolly Faibyshev for The New York Times

Shopping in NYC

Shoppers braving the rain outside the Best Buy in Brentwood, Mo. Whitney Curtis for The New York Times

‘I’m Sorry If I Ruined Your Day’

BRENTWOOD, Mo. – Rain wasn’t enough to keep motivated shoppers away from St. Louis-area stores on Friday, even though some lines were relatively short ahead of Black Friday store openings.

“It’s gotta be the weather,” said Eric Beck, 44, of Ladue, Mo. He and his daughter, Caroline, 17, had been waiting with umbrellas outside Best Buy since 6 a.m. for an 8 a.m. opening.

In the predawn hours at a nearby Walmart, employees outnumbered shoppers, most of whom were grocery shopping. There was just one customer at a GameStop in the same retail complex, who was chatting with three employees.

The line at Best Buy grew slightly as the store’s opening neared. Ben Baker, the store’s manager, came out and began distributing tickets for popular items.

“I’m sorry if I ruined your day,” Mr. Baker told the small crowd after announcing the store had sold out of the coveted 40-inch Toshiba TVs the night before.

“See, it’s just a bunch of malarkey, man,” said one man, folding up the soggy, neon pink ticket for a Samsung television and XBox combination in his hand. “Black Friday is only good if you’re getting appliances or cheap gifts.”

“I won’t ever do it again,” he added.

Inside the store, Mr. Baker addressed the employees in the minutes before 8 a.m. He was expecting more shoppers than on Thanksgiving, but spread out over more hours. Many of his employees had worked the night before, but seemed upbeat as shoppers like the Becks could be seen folding up their umbrellas and getting ready to come in. They cheered when Mr. Baker said he had ordered them food for the day.

— Ryan Schuessler

Seeking Deals Behind the Hype

PARAMUS, N.J. – Parking spaces filled quickly on Friday morning as the Garden State Plaza offered shoppers a few deals among the high-end and middle-market mainstay stores.

“It used to be much more crowded,” said Laurie Kern, 59, who lives in nearby Fair Lawn. Ms. Kern bought some cosmetics for herself, and sweaters and other items for her children and husband.

Normally, Ms. Kern said, everyone got about $35 worth of gifts each, but expensive repairs to fix broken sewer pipes had cut that budget down to about $25.

Not all consumers have migrated to online shopping platforms like Amazon during the holiday season. Kenneth Valencia, a 29-year-old supervisor from Cliffside Park, waited for his mother on a bench on the second floor.

Mr. Valencia, a native of Ecuador, said he was searching for a hoverboard, which he had seen advertised for $400 instead of the usual $1,000. The Black Friday shopping tradition had migrated to his home country, too, Mr. Valencia said, but the sales were still better here.

Not everyone thought that the sales were as good as advertised. Evelyn and Linda, two friends from Englewood who gave only their first names, came to buy gifts for their grandchildren and said that they had had to work hard to take advantage of steep holiday discounts.

“They were vague,” said Evelyn, 59, of some of Lord and Taylor’s advertised sales.

“That was to lure you in,” added Linda, 60.

The pair were each trying to stick to a $500 budget for their holiday shopping, and had come armed with $20 coupons that required a $40 minimum purchase. That required getting creative about how they combined items at checkout.

“We had to piece it together,” Evelyn said.

“It took time; people left the line,” Linda said.

— Rachel Abrams

Focusing on the Basics

WASHINGTON – Tamika Thorne left her job at 7 a.m. on Friday after working overnight as an auditor to help check the books for her company.

Thirty minutes later, she had a 32-inch television and a brand-new sound system in her shopping cart at the Best Buy in Columbia Heights.

“I’m furnishing my new apartment,” said the San Francisco native who recently moved to a place near the waterfront in the nation’s capital. “I saved up everything until Black Friday.”

She hurried to the store after clocking out, worried that she would miss out on the deals that other laser-focused shoppers were able to get a head start on. Her fears were not unfounded, as there were no more brand-new TVs in the model she wanted.

Instead, Ms. Thorne settled for an “out of the box” item, which had been returned by a previous customer and did not come in the original packaging. It didn’t even come with the remote control.

“They inspected it and everything, so it’s good,” she said. “I don’t mind buying items like that.”

The unpackaged Insignia that she got was normally $449, but she got it for $117.

“Since I have a bunch of money saved, I might buy a bunch of other stuff,” she said, adding that she would head next to H.H. Gregg or Joss and Main to find a new couch to go with her new television.

— Jada Smith

The Personal Touch

HUNTINGTON VILLAGE, N.Y. — For small shop owners, it’s often economically impossible to offer steep discounts that could compete with door busters from big box stores this time of year.

At L&L Camera, the best bargains may come in the form of personalized service rather than reduced-price merchandise. The shop prints photos, does DVD transfers, works with Blu-rays and doesn’t see much of an increase in customer traffic over this holiday weekend.

The cameras it sells are fixed costs, said part-owner and manager Ralph Brown, but services are not.

“If you buy a camera from us, even though we’re more expensive than Best Buy, we’ll help you set it up, we’ll help you get started, we’ll help you run the camera,” Mr. Brown said. “If you have questions while you’re out in the field, you can call in and we’ll try to troubleshoot it for you. Best Buy and all of them don’t really offer that homely kind of service.”

— Arielle Dollinger