By Tinete Williams
Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving that starts the holiday shopping season. Major department stores are offering great deals and some College of Southern Nevada students plan to shop.
Mike Phillips, store manager of Sears at Meadows Mall, said, “It’s the best deals of the year. There will be several different offers on the rewards program Shop Your Way.” People can find 30 percent off laptops and 20 percent off iPads with door-buster deals Thursday equating to great savings.
Phillips expects the stores to be busy and his team is preparing. “Really it’s about how to handle the increased customer amount while providing great service. We try to enjoy the experience with [the customers].”
Macy’s will have 500 specials starting 5 p.m. Thanksgiving Day and through Black Friday. “We know our customers enjoy getting a head start in finding the perfect gift and they consider Black Friday one of the most important shopping times of the year,” said Tim Baxter, chief merchandising officer for Macy’s as noted in a press release dated Nov. 16. “In addition to all the great Black Friday discounts in store and online this year, we will offer even more opportunities to save through Cyber Week with five full days of online specials so they will have the freedom to shop all week long at their leisure scoring big on hundreds of deals.”
Macy’s is offering 70 percent off clearance fine jewelry, 60 percent off outerwear and accessories, and $19.99 for ugly Christmas and whimsy sweaters, according to the press release.
Statistic Brain, an educational institute that researches and analyzes data, noted last year on Black Friday in-store consumers spent $67.6 billion, online consumers spent $2.9 billion and on average an individual spent $403.
“Two places we go every year is Kohl’s and Best Buy,” said Shannon Sheridan, CSN student. “Kohl’s has nice cookware and we go to Best Buy for electronics.” Sheridan and her older brother made shopping on Black Friday a tradition four years ago. This will be their fifth year. They go right after Thanksgiving dinner, leaving the house around 8 p.m.
Sheridan said sometimes they get all of their Christmas shopping done depending on the year but other times they don’t buy anything at all. If they buy at most they will spend $400.
Harman Bhinder, another CSN student, is looking to buy an iPhone 7 this year. He’ll be shopping at T-Mobile as well as Nike for sweats and winter clothing, and Target and Walmart for anything that’s interesting and cheap.
“I don’t really get up early,” Bhinder said. “I wait till it dies down and go in the afternoon on Friday.” He typically tries to keep his spend between $150 and $300.
CSN student Christopher Usigbe doesn’t have a specific plan or preference this year; however, he is looking for clothes and electronics for himself and will get up super early to shop with friends. He is hoping to get one of the best buys of the day. “A deal of 50 percent off or more from an original price of $500 would be a deal I could break the bank for.”
Some won’t head out to shop Black Friday.
Francisco Gonzalez, CSN student, never shops on Black Friday. “I usually don’t because a lot of people are there and get angry,” he said. “I think Cyber Monday would be better so I won’t have to go in there with a bunch of people.”
Alma Magallanes, another CSN student, will not be participating this year either.
“I don’t want to buy things I can’t afford and don’t need,” Magallanes said. “Why fight over a TV? There’s such animosity. It’s ridiculous. People shouldn’t be fighting over articles they can get later.”
For those planning to shop, check out Black Friday, a website that leaks ads from all the top stores, which displays deals from Walmart, Target, Amazon, Kohl’s and Macy’s among other popular stores to help shoppers get ready for the big day.
Coyote Student News at the College of Southern Nevada 