ANOTHER MELLOW BLACK FRIDAY IN VACAVILLE
Black Friday, that enduring post-Thanksgiving tradition where consumers get up early and go to businesses to take advantage of deals and/or get a head start on their Christmas shopping, was alive and well in Vacaville, which certainly has no shortage of places to shop.
However, with the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic and continued growth of online shopping, the crowds certainly seemed a lot smaller.
Take the Nut Tree Plaza, for example. In past years, lines outside of Best Buy and Cost Plus would have been common sights throughout the day. Instead, most of the shoppers appeared to be inside the stores and parking was very ample in the very early morning hours, although the lots did fill up as the day went on.
Still, there were more than enough shoppers out — many coming from outside of Vacaville — to ensure that, even amid a pandemic, people are still willing to get up before sunrise and score some deals on products.
It is a family tradition for many, including Rua Baker of Colusa, who has been taking part in Black Friday for at least the last five years. She was joined by her sister-in-law for their journey down to Vacaville to take advantage of the variety of stores compared to their hometown.
“There’s way more stores,” she said.
Baker was at her first stop, Old Navy, but was planning to go everywhere she could, including the Vacaville Premium Outlets and the Solano Town Center. She said the online deals seemed better than in stores but liked the camaraderie of being with family.
“It’s a good day for me and my sister-in-law to go shopping,” she said.
Magan Cruz of Vallejo got up at 4 a.m. and stopped at Best Buy with friends and then waited outside Five Below, a new store in the Nut Tree Plaza that sells a wide variety of items generally within the $1 to $5 range. Cruz and her friends were hoping to buy some Squishmallows, plushes in the shape of animals or foods that are made out of memory foam that makes them very smooshable with the ability to revert back to their original shape.
Cruz takes part in Black Friday every year, unless she happens to be working that day, and likes the deals. She even said this year appeared to have a larger turnout than the previous year.
“Last year, there was COVID, so everybody shopped online,” she said.
Best Buy manager Karina Palmer said the crowds were stable and manageable this year.
“We see a lot of people who ordered online doing more store pickups,” she said.
Palmer also said there were quite a bit of curbside pickups, although not as many as in-store pickups. The hottest items at Best Buy this year appeared to be TVs and Oculus virtual reality headsets.
In terms of COVID-19 protocols, Palmer said Best Buy employees still wear masks and encourage social distancing.
“Safety is our No. 1 priority,” she said.
Palmer said customers were very compliant.
“Everyone pretty much follows the rules here,” she said.
While the Nut Tree Pla
za’s Black Friday experience seemed more muted, the Premium Outlets were buzzing with activity. Parking lot aisles were filled up, holiday jingles played nonstop and several shops had lines out the door. These included Kate Spade, Michael Kors, Coach, Shoe Palace, The North Face, Crocs, Bath & Body Works and Baby O’s Donuts, which served freshly baked pastries and coffee to make shoppers’ experience of going from store to store on a chilly morning easier.
By far, the most popular store was the Nike Factory Store. As with last year, it had a line that stretched outside to the back of the store.
Among those waiting in line was Tina Rafallo, who drove all the way from Clayton with her daughter Jade. Black Friday has been a tradition for Tina for the last 20 years, before Jade was even born.
“I had to be inducted,” Jade joked.
Tina and Jade got up at 5 a.m., although Tina said they would have gotten up earlier if the outlet stores had been open earlier. They opted to come to Vacaville, as the nearest outlet mall to them is in Livermore, which Jade said was not as good. Tina said the Vacaville Premium Outlets have a better feel to them.
“We love these outlets because they’re safe and organized,” she said.
“They’ve just got it down.”
Tina enjoys the tradition of hanging out with her family, especially her daughter.
“I wouldn’t do it by myself,” she said.
The Rafallos also enjoy supporting brick-andmortar stores.
“Keep going into stores,” Jade advised. “Don’t do everything online.”