With the official start of the holiday shopping season, the Chicago Tribune sent a team of reporters to area retailers to gauge the crowds and sales on Black Friday starting at 4 a.m. Perhaps speaking to the slumping economy, our reporting team noticed that stores that didn’t offer huge discounts saw little foot traffic. Here is a sampling of what our Black Friday team found at nearby retailers (and even at the Mall of America near Minneapolis). You can find their postings in their entirety by going to chicagotribune.com/blackfriday.
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Driven by door-busters
By Wailin Wong
4:45 a.m.: Kohl’s at Fox Valley, Aurora
Shortly after 4 a.m., the parking lot is filling up fast and shoppers are running up to the entrance. How fitting that “Run Rudolph Run” is playing inside.
Many shoppers are picking up a door-buster deal for a six-piece luggage set, marked down to $59.99 from $189.99. The number of people wheeling suitcases around makes the store vaguely resemble a sleepy O’Hare terminal.
5:10 a.m.
For Mary Aiardo, 53, of Naperville, her mission was pillows. She bought eight of them for $3.99 each. Now she’s off to Wal-Mart and Menards for DVDs and a flat-panel TV.
Luis Valdez’s mission today is to guard the mountain of gifts that his sister-in-law marked in the Kohl’s circular last night. He seems mildly excited about the Magic Bullet shakemaker, but is otherwise nonchalant.
5:53 a.m.: Westfield Fox Valley Mall, Aurora
Kathleen Keenan, of Naperville, arrived at 4 a.m. But she’s not shopping yet. She’s waiting for Radio Shack to open at 6 a.m. because she wants to get a laptop, a digital frame and other gadgets.
Keenan said she’s purposely avoiding the busiest stores “where the people are animals,” but notices a more subdued shopping crowd in general compared with her first Black Friday early-bird experience last year.
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Working through aisles of the Wal-Mart in Niles
By Kayce Ataiyero
5:01 a.m.: Wal-Mart in Niles
At the Wal-Mart in Niles, customers were allowed in at midnight, but there was a catch: The Black Friday prices didn’t kick in ’til 5 a.m.
Yolanda Lopez, 49, of Chicago came for TVs — three of them. She got a 40-inch for $798 and two 32-inchers for $498 each. “All I have to do now is wait” to buy them, she said at 4:30 a.m. She had been at the store since 11:30 p.m.
5:15 a.m.
Dessie Malone, 28, of Rogers Park came to the Wal-Mart in Niles with her friend, Maureen Ivy, to get Christmas loot for their kids. What did Malone come looking for?
“Whatever the hell was on sale,” she said, laughing.
Their carts were stuffed with toys for the kids and some for themselves, including $128 Blu-ray disc players and $50 portable DVD players. “Oh, and these towels were $1.50,” Ivy said, as she placed her hand on a tall stack resting on top of her Blu-ray player.
5:52 a.m.
Some customers complained that they hadn’t been told the doors would open at midnight, giving their fellow shoppers a leg up.
Shanae Williams, 34, of Chicago, said she called the store Thursday and was told that the doors would open at 5 a.m. She was surprised arrive at 4 to see customers already milling about, pushing carts with the big-screen TV she coveted.
Williams said she got another surprise — employees told her that they had handed out tickets for the limited quantity items and that they had run out. No ticket, no TV.
She grabbed a 46-inch one anyway, hoping to be able to talk the cashier into letting her buy it without a ticket.
6:35 a.m.
Tara Stewart, Wal-Mart’s regional media director, said the decision to open doors early was made a week ago, a move designed to keep customers from having to wait in the cold. She said signs were posted ahead of time alerting customers to the change.
Stewart, pointing to carts full of toys and electronics customers were pushing out of the store, said turnout was good.
“It’s the rock-bottom prices on electronics that’s driving it,” she said. “Folks really want to stretch their dollar, and they know they can come here and buy a good Christmas for their family.”
8:30 a.m.: Circuit City
At 7 a.m., about 200 people were in line outside the Niles location, which the electronics chain plans to close. Signs on the door said the store would not have advertised Black Friday sales, but many shoppers said they hoped to get a good deal anyway.
But an hour later, many of those people had filed out of the store empty-handed. Jim Miller was one of those who said he’d wasted his time.
“I knew something was wrong when everyone was coming out with nothing.”
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Along Michigan Ave.
By Eric Benderoff
9:56 a.m.: Lego store
The store opened at 8 a.m., and the crowds have yet to come.
A clerk said she expects a bigger crowd in the afternoon, but the store had staffed for more early risers. One reason for the slow turnout could be that nothing is on sale. Rather, Lego offers a scratch-off card at the register when shoppers check out for an instant discount. Cards are worth 10 percent, 20 percent or 50 percent off.
10:14 a.m.: Sephora
The Sephora store at the Westfield North Bridge mall along Michigan Avenue also is slow this morning. A clerk calls the pace “comfortable” but expected it to be busier. There may be more clerks than shoppers.
The cosmetics retailer doesn’t offer sale items. Instead it bundles several items into gift boxes and promotes these samples as a “good value,” the clerk said.
One box offered “scent samples,” and a tag said it had an $80 value but was selling for $50.
Another package, the “Tarte Palette” box, was labeled as a $494 value but was selling for $52.
10:31 a.m.: Nordstrom
If there were one store with a decent crowd at the mall along Michigan Avenue this morning, it was Nordstrom.
The women’s shoe area had about a dozen racks of shoes and boots with prices up to 50 percent off. The racks were getting a lot of attention.
But on the store’s fourth floor, which sells clothes for kids and tweens and lingerie, there were only a handful of shoppers before 10 a.m.
That sparseness was repeated in the men’s department. Handsome overcoats were a third off — full cashmere for $599 and a cashmere blend for $299 — but few shoppers were taking a look.
12:50 p.m.: Apple store
The crowds are thick, but most deals are only average. Apple discounts only one day each year — the day after Thanksgiving. All iPods are on sale, from $11 to $21 off, depending on the models, but iPhone prices remain firm.
The 8 gigabyte Nano, for example, is $138 today but normally $149. And the 32 gb iPod Touch is $378, down from $399. Hardly door-busting deals.
The lowest-end MacBook is on sale for $948, down $50, while the $1,299 model is selling for $1,198.
There are great deals, however, on printers. One Canon model is free after rebate; other models range from $10 to $100.
3:10 p.m.: Nokia store
If you need a Bluetooth headset, head to the Michigan Avenue store this weekend. The Nokia BH-301 is $10. On Wednesday, it was $80.
Also, phone geeks should know that Nokia’s mighty N95 is selling for $379 this weekend. Normally it sells for $577.
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Among mall giants, deals seem to be to scale
By Mike Hughlett
11:58 a.m.: Mall of America, Bloomington, Minn.
As shopping malls go, it’s a behemoth, and like retailers just about everywhere, the Mall of America here is offering big deals. And regulars were taking advantage of them.
MacKenzie Jones snapped up a $90 pair of boots at American Eagle Outfitters for $37. “Some stores really had some deals,” said the 19-year old from Fargo, N.D., on a break from her annual post-Thanksgiving pilgrimage to the nation’s biggest mall.
Even The Hockey Lodge, a hockey apparel store that heavily caters to fans of the Minnesota Wild pro team, is offering 30 percent off on all division championship merchandise through Sunday.
Mary Von Eschen said she’s always been a bargain hunter, but even more so with the economy in the dumps. “It’s got to be on sale,” she said of this year’s holiday purchases.
Von Eschen, who lives in a Twin Cities suburb, scouted what she wanted last weekend, and then swooped in Friday when the goods went on sale.
But bargains weren’t everywhere. “Not at American Girl,” JoAnn Krienitz said as she and her husband hauled big bags stuffed with merchandise from the tony retailer, gifts for their granddaughter.
2:02 p.m.
Dianne Everson and her daughter Melissa Morgan, both from an eastern Twin Cities suburb, came looking for “deals, deals, deals” as Everson said. They did not go away disappointed. “They were better than we expected,” she said.
At Carter’s, Everson snapped up gifts for her grandchildren at 50 percent off. An in-store coupon further cut her costs. Morgan, meanwhile, got two sweaters for the price of one at The Gap, saving $50.
Patty Zumberge and her three daughters come from Little Falls, Minn., about 110 miles to the north.
She said that when they entered several stores, clerks immediately informed them of what was on sale. “I think they are aware [consumers] are not spending that much money.”
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A whole lot of TV love
By Sandra M. Jones
12:43 p.m.: Costco Wholesale Club, Geneva
Forget super-size packs of paper towels or the carton of 45 frozen spring rolls. This is all about electronics.
About 100 people lined up outside the recently opened Costco in Geneva. As soon as the doors slid open at 9 a.m., most of the crowd headed for the big-screen televisions at the front of the store.
Carts were filled with the Vizio 37-inch LCD HDTV, marked down to $499.99 with the $100 coupon found in the brochure clerks handed out as we entered the store. By 9:15 a clerk was restocking the sets. The rest of the warehouse store was quiet.
For folks who need Starbucks gift cards for teachers and co-workers, you get five $20 gift cards for $79.99. And there are loads of Kenneth Cole down vests for $19.99.
