Black Friday is still the busiest brick-and-mortar shopping day of the year, even as digital shopping grows each year.
The National Retail Federation estimated 165 million people will shop over the five-day Thanksgiving weekend with 114.6 million of those venturing out on Black Friday. The NRF expects consumers to spend between $727.9 billion and $730.7 billion on holiday shopping in November and December, an increase of 3.8%-4.2%.
Locally, residents were helping fulfill those estimates, and several parking lots at University Town Centre were near capacity on Friday morning.
Some consumers, such as 21-year-old Thomas Tretheway, of Morgantown, were shopping for specific items.
Tretheway said he was at Best Buy to get a TV and a new set of headphones, and he had no plans to shop anywhere else.
Others, such as Linda Atkins, visited multiple stores with multiple people on their lists. Atkins said she visited several stores around University Town Centre and planned to visit the Morgantown Mall.
Her list?
“Everybody, from grandkids to husband to mother, father-in-law.”
Best Buy manager Scott Kubica said the crowd was about what the store expected and that things were going smoothly on Friday. He said the store’s partnership with the Granville Police Department — which had an officer stationed in the store on Friday — helped ensure a safe environment for the customers.
Neither Atkins nor Tretheway shopped online and both said they didn’t plan to over the holiday weekend.
However, 2019 is expected to bring yet another new milestone for digital shopping as sales made from smartphones are predicted to outperform sales from other electronic devices, such as desktop computers, according to Adobe Analytics, which tracks online sales.
Shoppers spent $4.2 billion at online retailers on Thanksgiving, falling short of Adobe Analytics’ $4.4 billion prediction but revenue still increased 14.5% compared to 2018.
Heather Cleary, 36, of Morgantown, said she bought stuff using her cellphone on Thanksgiving and Black Friday.
She visited Target on Black Friday to browse for gifts for her family, including her two children.
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