Shortly after 9 a.m. on Friday, November 28 - nine hours after the first store in the Queens Center mall opened to the “Black Friday” masses - the mall’s spiral parking ramps were more like parking lots.
Despite the crowds and an estimated three percent increase in national sales compared to “Black Friday” 2007 - as reported by industry analyst ShopperTrak RCT Corp. on Saturday November 29 - weary shoppers struck a pessimistic tone. Hunting for bargains amid a downtrodden economy, would-be consumers prowled Queens Center as if they wore horse-blinders, programmed to zero-in on nothing more than the best sales.
Those sales, however, proved a bit too elusive and transparent for some shoppers who cried of mark-ups prior to price cuts and overall discounts that paled in comparison to last year.
“We basically just came because we do it each year, but before it was better,” said Flushing resident Mauricio Buendia, who found that the most aggressive markdowns were on televisions and other electronics. He and his brother-in-law, Emanuel Mendoza of Corona, had already purchased two TVs, a DVD player and a computer, plus a guitar for good measure - and lunchtime was still hours away.
“It’s a tradition,” Mendoza chimed in, adding that he thought discounts would have been better because of the poor economy.
Anne Arceo, who left her Elmhurst home before 6 a.m. to get an early start on her second “Black Friday,” agreed.
“It was actually pretty much expensive,” Arceo said, noting that she believes stores struggling financially could not cut prices as much as in the past. “The best sale was 50 percent off but the line there was crazy. People were out of the store already.”
A salesman at Get It Straight, a stand selling hair straighteners half-off for its sixth straight “Black Friday,” cited a “big, big difference” between this year and years past.
“You can actually feel it,” said the salesman, who goes by the name Magal. “You feel it is more kids coming to hang out than people that are actually coming to buy.”
A stone’s throw away, Bernanrdo Villarreal and a coworker stood by idly at Sunblox, a high-end sunglasses kiosk, wistfully watching people stroll by.
“Basically you see many customers going in,” Villarreal said, “but not many customers coming out with bags and you can tell something is taking place because of the economy.”
Jim Perry, the district manager for GameStop, a video game retailer, had a different experience entirely. The line to enter spilled out of his Queens Center store, one of four GameStops in the area.
“Everybody thought it would be less but it’s more,” Perry said of the holiday traffic, admitting that the gaming business is “on fire” right now.
“It’s not slowing down,” he said of his business, much to the delight of people like Dawn Simon, Queens Center’s Senior Manager of Marketing.
Simon arrived at the mall at 4 a.m. Friday and said precise turnout was hard to gauge because of staggered opening times at various retailers. But the morning had brought out high numbers and those numbers remained steady throughout the day, she said.
“I think that people feel that ‘Black Friday’ shopping is a holiday tradition and despite the economy they’re going to come out strong and shop,” Simon said.
Ravi Seujattan is one of those holiday spenders. Shoppers will not let the economy dampen their holiday spirit, he said, pausing for a quick break Friday.
“That’s the whole point of ‘Black Friday’ - for living and shopping,” Seujattan said, a pair of free pants from Express in his hand - a reward for spending $25 in the store.
However, with ‘doorbuster’ bargains like free clothing and TVs with price tags slashed in half, competition and tempers can run high. The trampling death of a Queens man working security at a Valley Stream Wal-Mart early Friday morning served as a stark reminder of that fact.
Thankfully, no serious “Black Friday” injuries were sustained in Queens, though some feelings were hurt.
“I went to Macy’s and some guy was complaining at me for something I didn’t even do,” said Hugo Calvo, on his way back to Queens Center for his second round of shopping before working the night shift at Modell’s Sporting Goods, adjacent to the mall. “I’ve seen it last year and this year compared, and this year it’s more competitive. Everybody’s trying to get whatever they can as fast as possible, trying to beat other people to the sales.”
The situation was no different at the Modell’s on Rockaway Boulevard in Ozone Park. Store Manager Linda Arroyo said Monday morning that “Black Friday” traffic and sales were up from last year, thanks, in part, to promotions, closeouts and “good name brand stuff at almost outlet pricing.”
Down the street, PC Richard & Sons fared equally well.
“When the economy is bad, we do well and when the economy is good we do better,” said Store Manager Julian Sampson, explaining that he runs “a neighborhood store and the neighbors trust us.”
“A lot of the other stores that I talked to - as a manager I talk to managers of other stores - they were complaining,” Sampson said. “They were feeling the pain, man. They were calling and asking if I was busy and I said, ‘I can’t even talk to you right now.’”
Indeed, “Black Friday” 2008 had some highs and some very low lows, but bargains and traffic jams aside, there was no escaping the fact that the second biggest shopping day of the year - eclipsed only by the Saturday before Christmas - emerged in a drastically altered financial landscape.
Queens Chamber of Commerce Executive Vice President Jack Friedman, a self-proclaimed “Black Friday” fanatic, summed it up best:
“I think that the sales are the sales - they probably are somewhat comparable to last year, but the shoppers are just a little bit different this year,” Friedman said.
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