|
Despite economy, Bradford shoppers out on Black Friday
By KYLE MILLIRON
Era Reporter
kylem@bradfordera.com
|
| Era photo by Alan Hancock |
|
|
| |
|
Though the U.S. Department of Commerce announced last month a 1-percent decline in consumer spending, the worst in 28 years, area shoppers still turned out in droves to snatch up holiday gifts on Black Friday.
Commonly called the largest shopping day of the year, the Friday after Thanksgiving, Black Friday, defied America’s current economic climate as many stores outperformed their sales figures from past years.
Nancy Graham, owner of Tin Ceiling along Main Street, said her sales were more than 60 percent above last year’s numbers for Black Friday.
“We’re doing fantastic,” Graham said. “A lot of people we haven’t seen in here before came in today.”
Joe Butler, owner of Man’s World, said that though the economy may be slow, Black Friday is always a busy day of the year. Many stores ran promotional sales to help wrangle in more customers throughout the day. Man’s World offered a two-day, 30-percent storewide sale, prompting “steady” business, Butler added.
Location seemed to be a factor as well for increased sales throughout the day.
Kelly Platko, co-owner of Roseart Inc., said its recent move from Lincoln Avenue to Main Street has helped with retail sales.
Fashion Bug Assistant Manager Lori Carty said her store is in a good spot to catch all the traffic on Foster Brook Boulevard, adding that the department store had exceeded its daily sales plan and it was open for another 5 hours.
In addition to promotional sales, many stores increased store hours to capture the early rush of shoppers. Allison Armstrong, shoe department manager at Peebles, said the store opened at 7 a.m. on Black Friday, three hours earlier than normal. The store had several shoppers waiting under the vestibule before the store opened to catch the early-bird specials, according to Christy Yohe, Peebles store manager.
Yohe added that she was a bit nervous about what this year’s Black Friday would bring since the economy is widely believed to be in a recession.
“We were nervous, with the economy being how it is,” she said. “But, it has been a typical Black Friday.”
The store was expected to exceed last year’s Black Friday sales figures, she added.
Stores not typically known to be a holiday shopping haven experienced a trickle-down effect and increased shopping traffic.
“We’re a hardware store, so we don’t necessarily see the same impact like department stores do,” said Steve Carlson, manager of Valu Home Center. “Our biggest thing is just the fact that so many people are off work. We know we will usually see some extra traffic around this time, and (Friday) we definitely saw a higher volume of customers.”
That higher volume of customers helps increase revenue for local businesses, as Rachel Wolfe, manager of Main Street Mercantile, revealed.
“Throughout a typical day, I wouldn’t see this many customers in at one time,” she said, looking around the store. “So far today, we’ve sold about double what we normally would.”
Fashion Bug assistant manager Nancy Priday paralleled this trend, saying it has also nearly doubled its typical daily sales.
However, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ chained consumer price index, a measure of the U.S. dollar’s buying power, customers may be buying fewer goods while spending the same amount. According to the C-CPI, a hypothetical basket of goods and services would cost nearly 25 percent more today than in October 2007.
This trend is blamed mostly on the rise in energy costs. The C-CPI said energy that could’ve been bought with $100 last year would cost more than $197, according to October statistics.
But, consumers got more for their dollar if they bought clothing and apparel, a favorite holiday gift. The C-CPI revealed clothing and apparel prices have dropped nearly 10 percent.
 printer friendly version
 e-mail this story
Reader Comments
There are No comments posted. comments to this story.
The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of bradfordera.com.
Submit a Comment
We encourage your feedback and dialog, all comments will be reviewed by our Web staff before appearing on the Web site.
|
