Smaller crowds out for Black Friday
Black Friday in Vacaville has never had a reputation for being particularly chaotic, especially in comparison to larger parts of the country. However, this year — possibly in large part due to the COVID-19 pandemic — seemed more mellow than most.
The parking lots seemed emptier and the lines outside the doors of businesses appeared to be confined to certain areas, but it was evident more than enough people were willing to carry on the tradition of waking up early to score some deals.
The shopping center that seemed to have the most activity in the early morning hours was the Vacaville Premium Outlets. Due to retail stores operating at 25 percent capacity, this meant lines out the door were common, and social distancing markers were placed on the ground to ensure shoppers stood 6 feet apart.
Among the stores that had long lines were Kate Spade, Tommy Hilfiger, Lacoste, Ralph Lauren, PacSun, Adidas, The North Face, Bath & Body Works and the Nike Factory Store, which had a line that stretched around the back.
Soncia Davenport of Va
caville was among those waiting in line outside Nike at 6 a.m. with her daughter Kya Jackson. For them, participating in Black Friday has been a tradition for the last 10 to 15 years and the Nike store was their first stop.
“I like to come out early, get the deals, try to beat all the crowds,” Davenport said
hile the long line outside the Nike store prevented Davenport and Jackson from meeting the latter goal, Davenport said it was manageable.
“It’s not that bad,” she said. “It”s not that cold.”
With customers constantly coming in and out of the stores, it also meant the lines moved pretty fast.
In addition to the social distancing markers, many shops also had hand sanitizer available for customers either inside or outside the stores. Signs posted by Simon Property Group, which managed the outlets, provided guidelines for shoppers, including wearing face coverings, washing hands on a frequent basis for at least 20 seconds, staying home if inhibiting flu-like symptoms, and advising customers to return to a store at a later time if too busy.
The outlets also played Christmas jingles non-stop to add to the holiday atmosphere.
Kevin and R hodalyn Vanisko came from Fairfield to buy some gifts and take advantage of dis
counts. They had started at the Ralph Lauren store and were planning to go to the GUESS Factory Store to continue their shopping.
Kevin said Black Friday is something he and Rhodalyn usually take part in each year, and he pointed out that the crowd size was noticeably smaller.
“T here’s surprisingly fewer people out,” he said.
Usually, the Nut Tree Plaza is where one expects to see long lines. However, due to the Nut Tree stores having a larger capacity than the outlet stores, this meant the customers were mostly inside the stores. Still, it was not unexpected to see customers walk out of Best Buy with a big-screen TV or Old Navy with a bag full of clothes. HomeGoods even had a small line outside before it opened.
Because of the 25 percent capacity limit set by the California Department of Public Health, Brian Grissom — the manager of Nordstrom Rack — said the limit was 99 people inside the store. Additional precautions included requiring customers and employees to wear masks, sanitizing the store throughout the day, taking employees’ temperatures before work, and having hand sanitizer by the fitting room and all cash registers. These practices were typical for a lot of retailers.
Back at the outlets, Allison and Bethany Malcolm stood outside Bath & Body Works, which had a line that wrapped around the store. Allison has been taking part in Black Friday for the last three years, and her mother has been doing
so for the last decade. The two came all the way from Woodland to take advantage of the stores in Vacaville.
“There’s stores here we don’t have in Woodland,” she said.
Allison and Bethany had started their day at American Eagle, then went over to the Vans store. Allison remarked that this Black Friday was quieter than most.
“Most of the parking lot was pretty empty,” she said. “NIke was super packed. I saw the line around the building, but it was overall more dead than I thought it would be.”
Still, it is a thrill that Allison has come to enjoy.
“I like the thrill of it,” she
said. “Going online is not as fun, it kind of takes that out. Going in stores, finding the deals and waking up early is thrilling and ex
citing for me.”