Black Friday shoppers turn out, but want more discounts
Shoppers at stores and malls around the Pittsburgh region went looking for deals Friday. And more than a few were not impressed with the discounts they found in a year in which inflation has hit historic levels and households are dealing with the rising price of gas and groceries.
“Not great sales yet,” reported a shopper at Ross Park Mall on Friday morning, while customers at Target in East Liberty said the deals there didn’t seem drastically different from the discount retailer’s usual prices. A woman at The Waterfront shopping center in Homestead described this year’s Black Friday deals as “meh.”
Thanksgiving weekend is a key one in the retail industry. Retailers count on strong sales spurred on by holiday gift-giving to help them hit revenue goals.
The National Retail Federation projected that more than 166 million people would shop this long holiday weekend, which extends through online-focused Cyber Monday deals. That’s up almost 8 million from last year.
Customers seem more comfortable mingling without masks than opening up their wallets. They’re holding out for the best bargains,
general manager of retail at Salesforce, which tracks online sales. He told the Associated Press that retailers finally responded this week, introducing more attractive deals online after offering mostly lackluster discounts earlier in the season.
“Retailers have finally stepped up the discounting game and consumers are responding in kind,” Mr. Garf said.
Post- Gazette reporters fanned out across the region Friday to get insights into what shoppers were seeing and buying. For some, the Black Friday quest turned out to be more about family tradition and spending time with friends than making purchases. Others were willing to stand in lines to get deals on items they wanted.
‘It’s our tradition’
Despite Thursday’s tryptophan overdoses, about 180 droopy-eyed Black Friday shoppers waited outside in a cold morning rain for the 6 a.m. opening of the Walmart Supercenter in West Mifflin. The store was closed Thanksgiving Day.
West Mifflin police officers stayed warm and dry in cars parked near the store entrances, keeping an eye on things.
Inside, behind the counter at an empty customer service bay, a store manager said most people came for TVs and other electronics they feared might be sold out by afternoon. Demand for toys for the youngest of the Santa Claus crowd placed a distant second.
The aisles bustled with shoppers pushing overfilled carts.
“We wanted to get ahead of the crowd,” said Mary Eveline, of Baldwin, briskly walking away from the cash register while several steps behind, her boyfriend, Josh Arnold, of Jefferson Hills, peeked over pillows and sheets stacked over the rim of their cart.
“The [ checkout] line wasn’t too long, so I’m glad we got here early,” Ms. Eveline said.
About 6:45 a.m., towering shoebox lights still illuminated a wet parking lot teeming with traffic. Slamming her hatchback shut, Janet Pierce, of Baldwin, said she wasn’t a Black Friday shopper.
“I just came for pajamas,” she said. “I want to get out of here before it gets crazy.”
Surprised by the rush and long lines
The 11 shopping bags taking up most of two tables at the Ross Park Mall food court testified to the Black Friday shopping commitment.
Yvonne Nelms, the matriarch of the group of five women shopping, predicted they would spend most of the day trying to power through their holiday lists.
“We like to get it all done in one day,” agreed her daughter, Beth Fabrizi, of North Versailles, who lives near her mother.
Her sister, Carrie Webber, of Warren, Ohio, was assigned to guard the bags as the others — including her two nieces, Madison and Sarah Fabrizi — bought snacks. It was close to 9 a.m., and they had been at the mall since 10 minutes before it opened at 6.
This was their first time taking their Black Friday tradition to the North Hills mall, and the long lines that formed so early came as a surprise. “We realized it was a mistake by the second or third store,” Beth Fabrizi said.
The deals had been OK but not amazing so far. They thought the best might have been the half-price Hollister jeans for $25.
“That’s what I’m looking for — the deals,” Ms. Webber said.
Thin crowd at The Waterfront
The town square at The Waterfront in Homestead was decked out in lit-up trees and green and red ornaments. Christmas songs played over the loudspeakers. But there were no crowds soaking in the holiday spirit on Friday morning. The cold drizzle didn’t help.
Inside Michaels, Jesse Sonita picked up a sign that said “It’s Christmas Time” and put it in her cart. Two days before, Ms. Sonita and her husband bought a new house in West Mifflin. As he was picking up the moving truck, she was stocking up on supplies to host Christmas at their new place — “hopefully.”
She doesn’t usually come out on Black Friday, Ms. Sonita said, opting instead for a few online deals. But the decorating timetable is tight this year.
After a few minutes, she put the Christmas sign back on the shelf and picked up a lighted wreath instead. Into the cart it went.
The clearance rack at Bed Bath & Beyond was filled with seasonal has-beens. Pumpkin- colored candle holders and table cloths mixed with sprinklers and inflatable pool tubes.
Christine Butko had wandered into this display of miscellanea toward the end of her shopping trip. She braved Black Friday with a boot on her left foot from a recent surgery and, after hitting Lowe’s for some poinsettias, had come into the housewares store to pick up a can opener and an air fryer, though her cart betrayed some holiday-themed diversions.
Ms. Butko, of Munhall, said she was disappointed to find a thinner-than-usual stack of circulars in Thursday’s newspaper.
“It used to be a stack of ads like this,” said Alyssa Braun, of West Mifflin, overhearing the complaint. Ms. Braun held out her hand with several inches of space between her thumb and pointer.
The whole concept of Black Friday has lost some of its luster for Ms. Braun, who used to pull up to Target about 3 a.m. and find a line of people already stretching around the corner.
In 2006, Ms. Braun and her daughter camped out overnight in front of a Best Buy to snag the just-released Nintendo Wii. They were second in line. “We even got pizza delivered there,” she reminisced.
Long lines for firearms sales
Pittsburghers waited in long lines to shop in another “holiday” tradition Friday.
Saturday’s start of the 14day statewide firearm deer season prompted Dunham’s Sports in West Mifflin to schedule a 4 a.m. opening. A queue of hunters escaped the rain waiting under Century Square’s facade overhang.
Each firearm customer was given a number, and dozens clogged product aisles waiting for attention. At 8 a.m., state government computers routinely go online to support the Pennsylvania Instant Check System, a state police-staffed background search process required for firearm purchases.
A little after 10 a.m., the checkout line stretched about 35 yards. “Look, we used to be way back there,” said a woman, turning to point toward the back of the store.
“Yeah, but it’s almost worth it,” said her husband, his hands cradling boxes of bullets. “Everyplace else is just about out of ammunition. These guys have everything but .270 and .30-06 [calibers].”
Noticing the expanding line, the assistant manager opened a third cash register and permitted a fourth cashier, who had been exclusively handling hunting license purchases, to also take general customers. “It’s been like this all morning,” the license cashier said.
Family, friends and birthdays
Courtney Carr, 28, of Lawrenceville, was at the Target in East Liberty around midday Friday pleased to find a good deal on a vacuum. She and a friend, Emily Dee, 27, visiting from Portland, Maine, had started at Target and were crossing their fingers for more targeted Black Friday deals at the Mall at Robinson.
Over on the Target shoe aisle, two girls were feeling inspired. Dressed in matching rainbow puffer coats, iridescent butterfly T-shirts and tan boots, they were tugging their mom, Lauren Patterson, 33, toward some equally rainbow unicorn boots.
The girls, Dakota, 5, and London, 8, said the family was visiting from Detroit to celebrate their grandmother’s 90th birthday. “I’m excited to sing her happy birthday,” Dakota said.
Another mother and daughter were carrying on a tradition. Neka Somerville, of Penn Hills, used to go Black Friday shopping every year with her grandma until she passed from COVID-19 two years ago.
She brought her daughter, Niyah Moss, 15, out to keep the tradition alive. They were buying matching pajamas to uphold another tradition of Christmas Eve family photos. There was even a matching outfit for their Yorkie.
Ms. Somerville said she had seen better deals in previous years, but what Target had to offer wasn’t bad. The deals that did exist were especially appreciated because of inflation, she added.
“I need to save every penny I can,” she said.
Staying hopeful and positive
As inflation pinches consumers, Neil Nichols is centering on affordability.
He owns Full Body Balance ( Negative Ion Store), which has two locations in the Mall at Robinson. With a variety of crystals, teas, aromatherapy and other merchandise, the retailer is emphasizing products for everyday use rather than big-ticket items that may be out of reach for customers struggling with high prices elsewhere, Mr. Nichols said.
“People’s gifts have become more natural-based,” he said shortly after 9 a.m. Friday as Black Friday traffic at the mall picked up. “I don’t see electronics being a huge item this year because people are coming back to practicality.”
Mr. Nichols sees his business beginning to pick up amid the holidays after a seven- to eight-month dip in volume. Customers just haven’t had the expendable cash they once did, he said, as their spending for gas, groceries and rent has climbed.
Groovy experience
The owners of toy stores southeast of Pittsburgh hoped to score with Black Friday shoppers searching for gifts from a small niche of specialty products.
Too Groovy Pop Culture Toys in Munhall offered 10% off Black Friday sales of retro and contemporary toys, games and collectibles. The store was scheduled to be open from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., but on this day Groovy customers could call and the owner would run up the stairs and open the door for private shopping.
Laverne Crawford of Len’s Trains and Custom Diecast Shop in Herminie, said business was “off and on” at the Westmoreland County store but customers enjoyed the laid back experience of another era of holiday shopping.
“They’re looking around, taking their time, not getting pushed around by other shoppers,” she said.
Friday, the shop’s noon-5 p.m. schedule remained unchanged for customers looking for new and vintage train sets, tracks and switches of various makes and gauges, as well as miniature homes, bridges, tunnels and other accessories.
Like the railroad industry itself, Len’s is adapting to changing times. Ms. Crawford said the shop will relocate to the internet full time as soon as she and her husband, Len, can get the technology to work.
‘Shop till you drop!’
The Kennedy family posed next to about 15 shopping bags outside Victoria’s Secret in the Mall at Robinson on Friday, a number they said did not even account for all their purchases — they had already taken a trip to the car to store more bags. The family, from Carnegie, had arrived four hours earlier for their annual Black Friday shopping trip, a tradition they’ve maintained for years.
“Every year we stop at the same stores,” said Teeone Kennedy, 21. “Shop till you drop!”
Sydney Kennedy, 30, enjoys the tradition because it allows her to spend more time with her family. Sydney said they were able to find mostly everything on sale, but Teeone said the deals in previous years had been better.
Another family that arrived about 11:30 a.m. was feeling the effects of inflation.
“The deals are OK, but because prices are so much higher, it doesn’t feel that different,” said Dawn Pasquinelli, 55, of Mars. “We’ve really had to cut back.”
Like the Kennedys, the Pasquinellis were still able to find things on sale, including Christmas gifts.