The nation’s economy got a boost on Black Friday as sales continued to grow from previous years.
Friday’s sales totaled $10.66 billion — up 0.5 percent compared with Black Friday 2008, according to ShopperTrak RCT Corp., a Chicago-based firm that tracks sales at more than 50,000 stores. Last year, sales increased by 3 percent.
Erin Hershkowitz, spokeswoman for the International Council of Shopping Centers, said that because most stores placed their orders for Christmas products in the summer, last year’s financial crisis hit the retailers at an unfortunate time, as they were vastly overstocked on products.
“This year, retailers were a lot smarter and [did not overstock on goods],” she said. “This helped prevent some of the massive price cuts consumers took advantage of last year.”
The ShopperTrak survey found that sales were strongest in the West and also rose in the Midwest and South. Sales declined in the Northeast.
Despite a nationwide increase in Black Friday sales, Austin-based vintage clothing store Blue Velvet typically sees a slump in revenue on the day after Thanksgiving, said assistant manager Puppet Schroder. This year was no different.
“People aren’t really looking to buy vintage as gifts,” Schroder said. “They tend to be more interested in shopping at Wal-Mart or Best Buy so they can get electronics.”
The survey also found that while cutthroat bargain hunters hit the stores early Friday morning, sales declined as the day progressed.
“The lines outside the store were crazy at 4 a.m. this morning,” said Mark Pachellio, manager of the Lewisville-based Best Buy. “It kind of tailed off a little later, but that’s always expected.”
Pachellio said that while the store did not immediately have any sales numbers, he felt the store made a solid profit.
“Black Friday is always one of our [biggest shopping days] of the year, and I didn’t notice any decline today,” he said. “Take a look at all the empty shelves, and tell me we didn’t have a good day.”
Many of those who braved the crowded stores were in search of holiday gifts.
“I wanted to get my gift shopping done early this year,” said Coppell resident Maggie Loe. “It certainly helps that I can get some amazing deals, too.”
Allen Boots sales representative Sean Greenberg said the store didn’t offer any type of special sale but that Black Friday was a good day overall.
“Sales were a little bit down from last year, but it’s nothing to get too worried about,” Greenberg said. “Black Friday is never really big for people that aren’t in a mall.”
Jenny Joo, manager of Fame clothing store in Highland Mall, said that she noticed a $4,000 decrease in sales across the whole weekend compared to last year.
“There didn’t seem to be that many people in the mall,” Joo said.
A survey conducted by PriceGrabber.com said the Nintendo Wii, Garmin’s GPS phone and the iPod were the most popular products sold on Friday.
Discount Electronics, a local store that sells refurbished computers, saw a slight increase in sales across all four locations. Brian Krueger, a sales representative for the West Anderson location, said there was a slight decrease in sales from last year at his store.
“But we definitely did better than a normal Friday,” Krueger said.
According to online retail analytics company Coremetrics, online shopping rapidly grew from last year.
The study found that online shoppers spent 35 percent more on Black Friday Web purchases than a year earlier, with the average order value standing at $170.19. The shoppers also bought an average of 5.4 items per order, up from 4.6 items last year.
According to the retail tracking firm Hitwise, Wal-Mart’s Web site was the most popular retail site for the fifth year in a row, followed by Amazon.com and Best Buy.
Even though online sales are growing, they still account for less than 4 percent of total retail sales. However, the online expansion is just one more positive sign toward economic growth.
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