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Lured by extended hours and deep discounts, shoppers crowded stores in the Northwoods and throughout America on “Black Friday,” but some were disappointed as goods advertised in fliers were scarce and sold out by early morning.
With leftovers in the fridge on the day after Thanksgiving, bargain hunters scoured store aisles and in some cases came away happy.
Sara Kelley drove down to Rhinelander from her home in Armstrong Creek to return some items and spotted some Rubbermaid containers on sale at Wal-Mart for $7, normally sold for $20. She promptly put two boxes in her cart.
“I normally shop at the Wal-Mart in Iron Mountain (Michigan), but I had to return some items at CellCom in Rhinelander,” she said. “I’m only spending an hour here; it’s not a big shopping day for me. I hope to be home by noon.”
One disgruntled shopper said he was looking for a laptop for his son and planned to buy one at Radio Shack in Rhinelander for an advertised $399, but the store didn’t have the computer in stock. A check of Radio Shack’s two other stores in the area – in Eagle River and Minocqua – found each store had only two available and they were sold by mid-morning after opening around 5 a.m., much earlier than usual.
At Office Max in Rhinelander, which opened at 7 a.m., $379 Hewlett-Packard laptops, normally priced at $550, were sold out in a jiffy. "We sold 11 of them in four minutes," a salesman said. "I could have sold 40."
Kohl's Department Store in Rhinelander opened at 4 a.m. and a line of people were waiting outside, stretched around the building. "I had to get up at 2:30 in the morning," a Kohl's employee said, but she added that it was a "great Friday and everyone was in high spirits."
Wal-Mart’s parking lot in Rhinelander was crammed Friday morning although the store normally is open 24 hours a day and there was no sense of urgency to shop despite some special prices. Outside, Jacques LaBerge, a volunteer bell-ringer for Salvation Army, was at the store entrance and said traffic was brisk.
Retailers slashed prices on popular items such as toys, flat-screen TVs and other electronics in hopes of reviving a sluggish year. Wal-Mart “door-busters” included digital cameras for as low as $25, a 50-inch Sanyo plasma HDTV for $598, a Magnavox Blu-Ray disc player for $78 and a TomTom GPS system for $59. A $398 Acer laptop was sold out on Saturday, but was expected to be back on the shelves soon. "Check our website for updates on sales," a Wal-Mart employee said. "Usually we have special pricing on the weekends."
With many people out of work and credit tight, merchants are trying to find ways to get shoppers to open their wallets either face-to-face at the cash register or on-line. People interviewed at random said they were being selective about purchases but still had some money to spend.
“I’m not going crazy this year, that’s for sure,” said Melissa Caldwell of suburban Chicago who was visiting relatives in northern Wisconsin for the Thanksgiving weekend and was shopping at the Pamida store in Eagle River. “I’m being careful about what I spend and I’m looking for the best prices.”
Black Friday gets its name because it traditionally has been the day when big crowds would push stores into "the black," or profitability. But the weekend doesn't necessarily predict spending for the rest of the season, which accounts for as much as 40 percent of annual sales and profits for many stores.