The sight of frenzied Black Friday customers plowing through doorways after midnight to buy merchandise at big box stores may be a thing of the past, but the start of the holiday shopping season still drew plenty of customers across the San Diego region Friday.
Some looked for bargains, others wanted to get a an early start on their gift-buying — and a steady stream poured into Target to pick up the latest Taylor Swift merch.
“My daughter’s a super fan, a real Swiftie,” said Elizabeth Whitsett, who stood in line an hour before the Target store in Mission Valley opened its doors at 6 a.m. “She had to work this morning, otherwise she would have come. She sent me a text about three weeks ago and said, ‘Mom, please go.’ “
Across the street 100 people politely entered the Best Buy store when workers unlocked the doors, just before the sun came up.
“It seems like fun to go out,” said 20-year-old Tristan Torres, who arrived early to buy an air fryer and left a few minutes later with a 55-inch Samsung TV that was on sale. “Everyone’s hustlin’ and bustlin’.”
A national survey by the National Retail Federation predicted 131.7 million shoppers on Black Friday alone, a figure that includes online and in-person customers.
While the emergence of online shopping has siphoned revenue from traditional brick-and-mortar stores in the past 25 years, the retail federation survey estimated that 65 percent of Black Friday customers will conduct their shopping at physical locations.
“The whole complexion of holiday shopping has changed dramatically in the last five years but Black Friday is still an anchor point for holiday shopping,” said Miro Copic, professor of marketing at San Diego State University. “It’s still a day to coalesce.”
For Yolanda Barros and Sandy Parker of Chula Vista, getting up early and shopping together at the Fashion Valley Mall the day after Thanksgiving has become an annual tradition.
“It’s a way to work off the night before’s meal,” Barros said with a laugh. “For me, it’s just the atmosphere, the vibe that it brings that tells me the holiday season has begun.”
The period between Thanksgiving and Christmas is vital to the bottom line of retailers, ing for a big chunk of their sales, especially for businesses such as toy stores.
Brian Miller, owner and president of the nine locally owned Geppetto’s toy stores from Carlsbad to Coronado, said the last quarter of each year makes up about 40% of the chain’s annual revenue.
“We’re busy all year but the last month of the year is really where the profit happens,” Miller said. “Overall, it’s been a good year but it’s been very unpredictable. Election years are always a little different for business but so far, this month has been very good and we hope it holds true for December.”
Target is counting on a big boost from Taylor Swift.
The mega pop star signed an exclusive deal with the Minnesota-based retailer, making Target the only store where fans can buy Swift’s self-published book. At 256 pages, “The Eras Tour Book” is a glossy recap of the highest grossing concert tour of all time. The book, listed at $39.99, went on sale in stores on Friday, with online sales starting Saturday.
In addition to the hardcover book, limited editions of vinyl and CD releases of Swift’s “The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology” album also went on sale Friday.
At the Target store in Mission Valley, notes on shelves told customers that limits of four units were in place due to high demand.
Alyssa Jackson, a 25-year-old living in downtown San Diego, arrived early to buy the book.
“I’ve been a fan since I was a little girl,” said Jackson, who wore an Eras Tour sweatshirt. “Especially in this day and age, she exudes positivity and that’s something we all need.”
Copic, who is also co-founder of San Diego-based Bottomline Marketing, said there’s a core group of consumers on Black Friday.
“It could be a slightly older demographic that get (to stores) earlier; younger adults might come later in the day,” he said. “But what it does for the mall is it gives traffic throughout the entire day, which is important for retailers.”
At 8:20 a.m., Maya Pekarek was already lugging an armload of bags from a variety of shops at Fashion Valley.
“After we do all our shopping early in the morning we go home, eat Thanksgiving leftovers, decorate our Christmas tree and set up all the Christmas lights inside and outside the house,” said the 18-year-old, who ed her mother, sister and boyfriend at the Lululemon store when it opened at 5 a.m. “I get almost all my gifts for my family, and some for myself, on Black Friday so I’m done practically before December.”
A record 183.4 million people plan to shop in stores and online from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday this year, according to a survey by the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics. That’s up from the previous record of 182 million in 2023 and 18.1 million more than five years ago.
And a survey from Deloitte predicts U.S. consumers will spend $1,778 this holiday season, which is 8% more than last year.
