NPR reported that Black Friday results showed a healthy period right after the doors opened, as buyers rushed in for the doorbuster sales. As many had previously warned, however, these items were in extremely limited quantities. Many left the stores disappointed.
Store owners were disappointed as well. Initial reports of Black Friday results show that many are spending cautiously. The idea of Black Friday is that it is when retailers will go "in the black" for their results. People are supposed to be drawn in by doorbuster deals, and stay to shop further. That wasn't happening, at least as far as early reports state.
A local example is Castro Village in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area. A large outdoor mall with more quaint, mom-and-pop stores than most, it has few chain stores, with only restaurants such as Shari's, Walgreen's, and Ross. Interviewed shop owners said that Black Firday results were poor, with business extremely slow.
The reason for the cautious spending is the recession. Many have terms the so-called recovery a jobless recovery, with many still extremely worried about their jobs. As such, Black Friday results should surprise no one.
Barbara Martin was a typical example of what's happening with Black Friday results. She told the Washington Post that "I’m not stupid enough to think I couldn’t lose my job tomorrow. We’re going to cut back on spending this year for the holidays by about 75 percent."
Still, some stores feel that Black Friday results themselves may be good, while overall, holiday shopping will be down, as predicted. Those who saw unexpectedly slow sales on Black Friday have initiated a new day: Black Saturday. Of course, with the doorbuster deals gone, and with most people knowing that, it is unclear if that will pull in many customers, or if they will wait until Cyber Monday instead.
Posted November 28th, 2009 by Michael Santo
