Shoppers out for Black Friday bargains
‘‘And just to help get Christmas shopping sorted early, it’s so good if you can to get a good chunk of it done and take advantage of the sales . . . because Christmas gets pretty pricey.’’ Amelia Robinson The Little Rainbow Company
Shoppers were out in force in Taranaki on Friday on the hunt for a bargain or three with tills ringing and car parks packed.
Black Friday sales began in the United States, traditionally on the day after Thanksgiving, and are becoming increasingly popular in New Zealand where they are on par with the shopping mayhem that is Labour Day and Boxing Day sales.
Centre City manager Shawn Mckenzie said the majority of stores in the mall had strong deals on this year.
‘‘I think it’s been pretty positive, and it’s good to see people back in the centre.
’’People are definitely taking advantage of having the deals before Christmas.’’
While the sale is named after a day, the promotions can last a week or longer and often begin before Friday.
Amelia Robinson loves shopping the Black Friday sales herself, so knew she had to offer one when she started own her store.
Robinson, a mum of three, started The Little Rainbow Company, a high-end baby and toddler goods store on Devon St West in New Plymouth, in April.
Offering Black Friday sales was a way to provide some deals for her customers to say thank you for the support they’d given her.
‘‘And just to help get Christmas shopping sorted early, it’s so good if you can to get a good chunk of it done and take advantage of the sales to get a bit of a bargain, because Christmas gets pretty pricey.’’
Robinson’s sales started on Thursday to try to get ahead of the big box store sales, and she’d had a steady flow of foot traffic as well as an increase in online orders.
She said she still had people coming into the store when hail was pelting the CBD on Thursday.
At Mitre 10 and Mitre 10 Mega in New Plymouth, Friday was the first day of the sales, which marketing and customer experience manager Nicole Attrill said was now their biggest sale of the year, overtaking the Labour Day sales.
This year featured discounts across a range of their stock including 10% off barbecue brand Weber.
‘‘Which doesn’t sound like a lot but for anyone who is into Weber knows they don’t really have sales.
‘‘There’s quite a lot of people and foot traffic around, which is fantastic, and we’ve got a local special as well at both stores with 50% off all outdoor garden pots so that’s exclusive to New Plymouth and great for getting the garden summer ready.’’
Shoppers had been making the most of the specials in Hā wera, too.
Tina-Marie at Ballentynes on
‘‘There’s quite a lot of people and foot traffic around, which is fantastic, and we’ve got a local special as well at both stores’’ Nicole Attrill Mitre 10 Mega
High St said they had 25% off in store, which finished on Saturday.
‘‘We’ve been crazy busy all day. The sale started on Wednesday, and it’s just been busy, busy, busy since then.’’