|
![TMCNet: Shopping Spree: Lubbock stores see hundreds turn out for Black Friday gift purchasing [Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, Texas]](http://images.tmcnet.com/siteart/invisible.gif)
Shopping Spree: Lubbock stores see hundreds turn out for Black Friday gift purchasing [Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, Texas]
(Lubbock Avalanche-Journal (TX) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Nov. 28--There were shoppers and there were marathoners among the crowds thronging Hub City retailers for the traditional day-after-Thanksgiving start of the holiday shopping season.
Count Meg and Melody Greisdorn, mother and daughter, among the marathoners.
It was half past noon Friday when they stopped for a moment to chat; on the go since since midnight, they'd visited 11 stores and taken time out for a buy-one-get-one-free breakfast.
And they had plans to go through one more store before calling it quits for the day.
"We've probably spent less than $500," Meg Greisdorn said, in the grand court at South Plains Mall. "We're being really careful."
The Greisdorns' shopping itinerary started at Toys R Us, which opened at midnight, followed by a trip to Old Navy, then to Target.
The early pace was slow, Melody Greisdorn said, adding it took about an hour each in Toys R Us and Old Navy to get through the checkstand lines with their purchases.
Target was their third stop, and more long lines.
Dee Dee Davis, store team leader at Target's University Avenue store, estimated between 400 and 500 people were waiting when the store opened at 5 a.m.
"In the first hour, we probably had 800 or 900 people in the store," Davis said.
Speaking in an afternoon interview, Davis said "it's gotten a little more manageable, but we're still doing a lot of business."
Despite the numbers, Davis said, the throngs were pretty agreeable.
"I have the best guests," she added.
Popular items Friday at Target included consumer electronics such as portable DVD and Blu-ray players, and small appliances.
The J.C. Penney and Sears stores at South Plains Mall each reported several hundred people waiting for the pre-dawn openings, said Beth Bridges, the mall's marketing manager.
"I think people were definitely evaluating all of the doorbusters and deals and carefully planning how and where they were going to shop," Bridges said.
"It is a good strong start to the holiday season," Bridges said. "Usually the traffic comes in waves, but this year there seems to have been steady traffic all day."
And the traffic wasn't all from Lubbock.
Michael and Julia Chaney left their Hobbs, N.M., home at 4:30 a.m. for a day of Christmas shopping in Lubbock.
"I've already made one run to the pickup," Michael Chaney said, as his wife recounted the stores they'd already visited. "That's what I'm here for. I buy what she tells me to."
Julia Chaney laughed and said, "Now, that's not true."
They still had several more stores on the list before heading back home.
"It's kind of an adventure," Julia Chaney said.
Another out-of-town shopper, Donna Latta of Seminole, said she did a lot of comparisons in advertising materials to plan her shopping trip to Lubbock, adding she'd had no trouble finding items she was looking for.
Away from the bigger stores, some small retailers were getting their share of traffic.
"It's been a really good day, really busy," said Shana Konechney of the 10-20 Boutique and 40 Below women's stores. "They go to Kmart and they go to Wal-Mart, then they come here. Everybody's so coffee'd up, and they come here to relax."
Konechney said the peak time for customers on Black Friday last year was between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.,
"I'm tickled to be near the mall but not in it," she added.
To comment on this story:
walt.nett@lubbockonline.com l 766-8744
shelly.gonzales@lubbockonline.com l 766-8744
First appeared on lubbockonline.com: 10:30 p.m. Friday.
How 'Black Friday' got its name
A Web site, www.blackfriday.com, compiles retailers' Thanksgiving weekend sales circulars, and offers a look at the history of the name.
To see more of the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.lubbockonline.com/.
Copyright (c) 2009, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, Texas
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
[ Back Hosted VoIP Global Community's Homepage ]
|
SUBSCRIPTIONS
Activate Email 
TMCnet LOGIN
