Cyndi Binder, of League City, shops with her son, Nicholas, 3, at the Super Target in League City on Friday afternoon. While shoppers were out on Black Friday, some store managers said the poor economy took a toll on sales.
It’s not that there weren’t people out in force Friday.
There was the usual crinkling of plastic bags, the scuffing footsteps of shoppers, the Christmas songs and the strident voices of store employees calling at passers-by, all creating the expected din of “Black Friday.”
It was clear from the savaged displays that the day after Thanksgiving was busy, but some shoppers and store managers said the kickoff to the holiday shopping season was a little lackluster.
Perhaps that was to be expected with some economists citing high unemployment numbers in predicting the public’s desire to save, not spend.
But tell that to the 50 to 75 people who were lined up by 3:45 a.m. near the exterior entrance to J.C. Penney in Baybrook Mall.
Store manager Joseph Capers said when he arrived at 3 a.m., the early birds were nested in blankets to keep out the cold weather.
Many of the customers came in seeking bargains on jackets and outerwear, jewelry, housewares and women’s boots, Capers said.
“These are probably the best deals (at the store) you’ll get in quantity,” he said.
The store held extended hours from 4 a.m. to 11 p.m. to accommodate the crowds.
“It’s been pretty well-shopped today. We started off slow, but it picked up around 7 or 8 a.m.,” Capers said.
Around lunchtime, the store still was full enough to see shoppers dodging and weaving to navigate around the masses perusing goods.
The store had suffered a little of the retail carnage for which the holiday is so famous but had fared relatively well.
A few of the displays, however, with sweaters and jeans unfolded and strewed across heaps clothes and toys were no doubt enough to incite tremors in stockers.
To handle the continuous mass of people, customers were directed to a dozen or more check out lines, including the store’s salon and catalog areas. In those lines, as many as 15 people deep, kids sat on the ground playing with packaged toys or making games of the clothing displays.
Capers said the store hired about 50 extra people to work the holiday season. All of those new hires, plus the store’s 150 regular staff, manned the floor Friday.
The atmosphere was much more relaxed on Galveston Island.
Big-box retail stores kept busy, their parking lots fuller than normal, but didn’t contend with the same gridlock as the Baybrook area or shopping centers on the Gulf Freeway at FM 646 near Dickinson.
There was a continuous stream of activity, however, around the Historic Strand area.
Crowds walked amid the newly renovated buildings. There was a lot of talk among the strolling shoppers about waterlines and hurricane damage.
In the early afternoon, Nick and Pamela Novak, of Baytown, walked down a cobbled section of sidewalk sipping drinks and carrying a few shopping bags. The couple said they have made trips to The Strand three times a year for the last 10 or 12 years.
On a few of those occasions, they visited on Black Friday. This year, foot traffic among the shops, restaurants and boutiques was light, even compared to their last visit, which was during the summer, Nick Novak said.
The pair said they are not the type for “doorbuster” sales and they do most of their holiday shopping on the Internet.
Instead, the trips are opportunities for them to get away and relax, enjoy the experience and search for “bric-a-brac.”
Others across the county seemed to have a similar desire for relaxation and for a good meal — other than turkey.
Chain restaurants and movie theater parking lots around the county were even more consistently packed than the retail stores throughout the day.
Still, some dedicated shoppers, like Pam King, of League City, put in a full workday’s worth hunting out deals.
King said crowds were a little smaller this year than last, but there were good sales to be found if a shopper looked hard enough.
She said she had been at it from about 8 a.m. until about 5 p.m. and had visited Walmart, Target, Best Buy and a few other stops along the way, as she loaded boxes of computer and electronic components she had purchased from Best Buy, near Baybrook, into her filled vehicle.
Economics wasn’t as big of an issue this year as she had been concerned about, and this gift-giving season had the potential to be a good one, she said.
