Black Friday during COVID-19: Plenty of deals, fewer lines and strollers wrapped in plastic
Shorter lines, social distancing rules and COVID-19 concerns meant Black Friday in 2020 was a shopping holiday like no other.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, shoppers faced more than just the consideration of an early wake-up call to snag a deal. They had to consider their safety, too.
Holiday shopping: Black Friday shopping hours in Naples, Fort Myers
Small Business Saturday has a new meaning during pandemic
Around Southwest Florida, here's what our reporters saw — from the deals to the duds, from those who stayed home and those who ventured out for that perfect holiday gift.
Target and Best Buy, Naples
Shoppers at the Target store at Pine Ridge and Airport roads were in and out, which pleased Ezekiel Gonzalez, 40, of Naples.
He had no hassles getting a 50-inch Element Roku television.
“There was no line, no pushing, no craziness,” he said. “It’s a very different Black Friday experience.”
Suki Karash, 66, was impressed by the Target Super Store off Immokalee Road near Interstate 75.
She and her daughter and granddaughters were in and out getting stocking-stuffers and secret Santa items.
“There was not a lot of people,” said Karash, who is from the Dunnellon area and visiting family on Marco Island. “It was super clean.”
Cori Cracium, 49, felt the same way.
“It was easy,” she said, her cart filled with toys, games and craft supplies. "I have a lot of nieces and nephews.”
The Best Buy off Naples Boulevard and Airport Road had a line but manager David “Bars” Salazar said it was normal. The store allowed 75 customers in at a time for COVID-19 safety.
“As long as everyone stays safe, it’s a good day,” he said.
Some shoppers took advantage of Black Friday shopping by ordering online and picking their items up.
Adrian Lenza, 25, did just that for the Sony PlayStation 5.
“It’s got better graphics and sound,” he said.
The latest version hit the market earlier in the month to "unprecedented demand," making it both a popular and tough-to-find item for the holiday season.
“I play a lot,” Lenza said.
Elizabeth Perez came out of the store with two Chefman Air Fryers.
“One for me, one for my daughter,” Perez said, giving her age as “old enough.”
Newlyweds Colton and Dana Chase came out empty-handed, though not for lack of availability.
Colton Chase, 22, was looking at Microsoft's Xbox consoles; Dana, 19, at one of Amazon's Kindles.
“We decided ‘nah,’” Dana Chase said. “They had it, we just decided not to.”
Colton Chase added: “Black Friday just isn’t like when I was a kid.”
Coastland Mall, Kohl's, Naples
At about 9:30 a.m., few lines could be seen inside Coastland Center Mall in Naples. Among the exceptions? Chick-fil-A, Starbucks and Bath & Body Works, offering its once-a-year, widely popular buy three, get three deal on everything.
The scene at the mall looked more like a busy weekend than a Black Friday, except for the barriers stores set up to control larger crowds if they came — and the flashy signage in their windows and outside their doors advertising the big deals for the day.
Teen clothier Hollister, for example, advertised 40% off its entire store.
The mall's playground remains out of commission and off-limits. Several shops were noticeably still closed too, due to COVID, including Auntie Anne's, known for its warm pretzels and old-fashioned lemonade.
Mall signage was yet another reminder of the pandemic, with the tagline "Feel Safe, Shop Happy."
Some mall shoppers left empty-handed, with others carried out just a few bags, like they might on any other day.
By 11 a.m., it didn't seem much like Black Friday at Kohl's off Naples Boulevard either.
By then, only a few shoppers waited in the check-out line inside the store, which opened before sunrise. Shoppers were thinly spread out throughout the store.
The store advertised all sorts of sales on everything from princess dolls to small appliances, including a new round of "Super Deals," including everything from designer winter boots to Beats wireless headphones.
As at the mall, some shoppers left empty-handed, while others carried out a small bag or two of merchandise.
Others awkwardly maneuvered bigger boxes to their car, including Yvrose Toussaint, who lives in Golden Gate. She carried out a Ninja blender, on sale for $115. With a coupon, she got an extra 15% off the sale price.
She also picked up a couple of deeply-discounted bed pillows and a few other bargains.
It was Toussaint's first and only stop, and she was headed back home. She said she doesn't do early mornings, even on Black Friday.
"I'm going to go home," she said. "I don't want to spend too much."
Some seemed to be at Kohl's only to help their loved ones get their purchases to their car, or maybe just for a little moral support.
One man appeared engrossed in a good book, while another one watched videos on his phone, socially distanced, of course, on two separate benches.
Miromar Outlets, Estero
The scene at the Miromar Outlets was far different this year, starting with the opening time.
In years past, the mall has opened on Thanksgiving night for "Gray Thursday," with doors staying open into the night on Black Friday.
Signs on columns and pavement reminded shoppers to stay 6 feet apart and created one-way lanes, which only some customers heeded. Mall baby strollers were wrapped up in plastic, along with a kid's carousel, thanks to fears about the spread of COVID-19.
Shoppers wore face masks in stores — with some keeping them on outside, as they walked about the open-air mall.
Some eager shoppers arrived when the mall opened at 6 a.m. on Friday, but the outlets didn't draw the harried early morning crowds it normally does for one of the biggest shopping days of the year.
A few stores, however, got a lot of attention, with lines forming outside. Rules were stricter on how many shoppers could enter at a time, due to COVID.
At 8 a.m., dozens of shoppers were lined up to get inside Bath & Body Work, with an associate dressed like a Santa's helper in a green and red apron directing the flow of traffic into the busy store, offering a buy three, get three mix and match deal that comes only once a year. Only 17 customers could go in at a time.
Among those standing in the line were Daniel Dias, 36, and Kyle Knight, 31, from Fort Lauderdale. They were continuing an annual tradition of driving over to the west coast for Black Friday deals. They come here because their own malls are too crowded and hectic, including Sawgrass Mills outlets.
"There's thousands of people over there," Knight said. "Over here it's pretty relaxed."
Besides shopping for candles for family, friends — and in Dias' case, himself — they were generally just looking for good deals on designer brands.
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At Adidas, Dias found the shoes he wanted for a great price, but they didn't have his color, so he plans to buy them online.
While Adidas had some great deals, including 50% off already reduced merchandise, Knight said other retailers' deals weren't as good as in years past, including the promotions offered by Nike.
Both said they usually get most of their holiday shopping done in a day and find a few gifts for themselves.
Dias and Knight weren't the only ones waking up in the wee hours of the morning to go Black Friday shopping.
Sheri Riddle, 57, from Marco Island, got up at 3:30 a.m. to make sure she got to the mall as soon as it opened.
It's a tradition she shares with other family, including her sister.
In years past, Riddle said the mall has drawn much larger crowds, and stores have offered much better deals.
She didn't miss the crowds, but she did miss the deals, making it tougher to quickly check off her Christmas list for others.
"This usually is my favorite day of the year," Riddle said. "I'm always 50% done in one day. So I'm way behind."
Asked why she thought the Black Friday deals might be in shorter supply, she reasoned that it might have something to do with the hit retailers have taken from COVID-19 — and more deals being pushed online this year due to the pandemic.
As for the coronavirus, she said she wasn't worried about catching it while shopping because she had her mask on — and plenty of hand sanitizer at the ready.
Vineyard Vines also generated lines, with deals that included 50% off clearance items. Cassie Payton, 30, and her stepdaughter Jenna, 20, stood in it at about 7:30 a.m., eager to get inside to see what kind of deals they might find.
Asked what they planned to buy, Cassie said: "Just good deals, anything on sale really."
"It's really a jump start to our Christmas shopping," she said.
They both commented about how different the shopping experience felt this year, with smaller crowds and different shopping rules for safety. Vineyard Vines allowed a maximum of 20 shoppers into the store at a time.
The mall was the Paytons' second stop of the day. They'd already been to Kohl's in Cape Coral, where they live, arriving when it opened at 5 a.m. and finding a few steals on sweats, candles and other home goods.
Best Buy and Gamestop, Fort Myers
Alijah Roman, 21 and a newcomer to the area from Louisville, Kentucky, arrived to the GameStop off Daniels Parkway in Fort Myers at noon Thursday. His desire: the Playstation 5, to keep and not scalp. He also walked out of there with a pair of video games, NBA2K and Call of Duty.
“It took all of 17 hours of waiting for five minutes in the store,” said Roman, who slept on an air mattress outside over night.
At the Edison Mall GameStop outdoor location, Thomas Hagler, 48, arrived at 5:30 p.m. Thursday to wait for the 8 a.m. store opening. He wanted the new X-box for he and his 14-year-old daughter to share. That store posted a sign saying it would have just three of the new Playstations and six of the new X-Box consoles.
That guaranteed Hagler one, given he was fourth in line.
Best Buy, which sells a lot of electronics, saw busy traffic that began with the Thursday sunset arrivals of brothers Cahner Flynn, 17, and Logan Flynn, 18. Both are students at Florida SouthWestern State College. They arrived at the Page Field Commons location in Fort Myers.
Cahner awaited a “doorbuster” deal of a 55-inch 4K television.
Logan wanted a headset and a graphics card.
“I don’t mind it,” Logan Flynn said of camping out for the 5 a.m. opening.
By mid-morning, the line began to swell again, with masked customers lining up outside.
“I like the fact that they’re being more careful with the pandemic,” said JoAnne Demeus, wearing a mask in the parking lot while loading a TV into her car. “They’re keeping the store to a minimum capacity.”
Small business action
Jennifer Bouchard said her store, Happily Ever After Consignment Boutique in Naples, has some deals to get in on the Black Friday action, too.
All kids items are half off, she said, with some deals for adults and a general 20% discount. She said she thinks shoppers are more interested in visiting on Black Friday as opposed to small business Saturday.
As of 11 a.m., she said she made two sales since her store opened at 10 a.m.
"We get busier in the afternoon," she said. "I'm just hoping for decent business."
Staying home
Cape Coral's Steve Putnam said he wasn't willing to take the risk of shopping in-person on Black Friday, at least in part because he believes people are tired of taking the pandemic seriously.
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"They're just not taking it as seriously," he said.
While he wasn't a fan of shutting everything down, he said he isn't a fan of how Florida leaders have handled the pandemic. His own health is also keeping him home.
“Since March, we’ve just not partaken with neighborhood events or family events because both my wife and I are retired and in our 70s, and we’re just not comfortable putting ourselves out with the pandemic," Putnam said.
Some readers commented on the Naples Daily News And Fort Myers News-Press Facebook pages that they would be staying home or shopping online.
David Sisk, for example, called Black Friday a "social distancing nightmare."
Similarly, Darlene Romanosky wrote that she never shops on Black Friday.
"Too busy eating leftovers!" she wrote.
Reporters Andrew Atkins, Laura Layden, Liz Freeman and David Dorsey contributed to this report.