Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, is historically the largest shopping day in the United States, and a day retailers have come to count on for strong sales numbers. In years past, Short Pump has been positively unnavigable on Black Friday, but with many shoppers having concerns over the economy, that was not the case this year.
West Broad Street, typically jam-packed with even more cars each year after Thanksgiving, was barely any more crowded than mid-day on any given Saturday. Short Pump Town Center’s parking lot was packed out, but not overflowing like it was the same time a year ago.
Overall, retailers reported disappointing sales, but said the situation could have been worse. Despite the current economic situation, some die-hard shoppers still braved the elements and camped out in front of big box stores such as Best Buy and Circuit City. We found about a dozen full size camping tents pitched outside the Short Pump Best Buy store on Thanksgiving evening. One shopper we spoke to, in the front of the pack, had been there since 11:00 a.m. Thanksgiving Day.
Shopper Tim Louk, who had been in line since mid-day on Thanksgiving, said despite the early turnout, there were hundreds more in line at the same time last year. But he doesn’t blame the economy as much as the lack of a hot commodity, like the Nintendo Wii proved to be last Christmas. “There’s not that one thing that everybody wants this year. Compared to last year this is tame. The line wrapped easily around the buildings [a year ago].”
The lines were not as impressive at struggling retailer Circuit City, but that didn’t stop employees from having a little fun and spreading holiday cheer by broadcasting their nationwide “Tech Sandwich” podcast from the Short Pump Town Center store. Their choice to put the Short Pump store in the national spotlight is not surprising, considering the proximity to the company’s corporate headquarters and the relatively strong sales of that particular location.
Retailers haven’t given up hope on strong consumer spending, though. It’s still early in the game, and analysts say that many shoppers may be holding out for more aggressive discounts as the season goes on and stores pull out all the stops to make a sale. Light foot traffic may also be due to a slight increase in online spending over last year, and an emerging trend of deep online discounts the Monday after Thanksgiving, called Cyber Monday.
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