PROVIDENCE / 1:40 p.m. -- Meredith Sheaffer and her daughter, Heather
Strong, were up by 5 a.m today to begin their traditional
day-after-Thanksgiving Christmas shopping trip.
By 6 a.m., they had donned their reindeer-style holiday hats and were
inside their first store, a craft shop in Warwick.
|
SPECIAL HOURS
Area malls and stores will be extending their hours today for the traditional
launch of the holiday shopping season.
Emerald Square: 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Garden
City Shopping Center: 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Providence Place: 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Rhode
Island Mall: 9:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Swansea Mall: 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Warwick Mall: 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Wal-Mart: Most will operate 24 hours, others will operate 6 a.m.
to midnight.
Target: 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Kmart: 5 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Kohl's: 6 a.m. - 11 p.m.
|
By 11:20 a.m., after a stop at the Warwick Mall, they were resting on a
bench at the Providence Place mall, a pair of shopping bags beside them.
"I'm all done," said Sheaffer, a resident of West Warwick.
By that, Sheaffer, who's been Christmas shopping for weeks, meant she
was done for the season, not just for the day.
In fact, she and her daughter were considering checking out a few more
stores after a lunch break. After all, this is a mother-daughter
tradition, a way to enjoy each other's company, while also taking
advantage of big bargains, said Strong, a Coventry resident.
It seemed like a family affair for many of the shoppers at Providence
Place late this post-Thanksgiving morning, typically one of the busiest
shopping days of the Christmas season. Children tagged along with
parents. Some mothers pushed strollers. A few shoppers pushed
wheelchairs for elderly relatives or friends.
Apparently refreshed by the holiday, and not yet tired from battling
mall traffic, shoppers seemed happy, energetic and in a buying mood. At
least one shopper was toting four big shopping bags.
Still, the crowd seemed only moderate -- there were just six kids
waiting in line for Santa Claus at 11:15 a.m. -- but showed signs of
building toward noon.
"We should be pretty good," said Eric Laprade, sales manager at Clarks
shoe store. "The mall usually picks up between 12 and 8."
Providence Place shoppers are not early risers, Laprade explained,
although the mall opened at 8 a.m., two hours earlier than usual this
morning, to accommodate early shoppers. He estimated that stores record
60 percent of their sales between noon and 5 p.m.
The day after Thanksgiving is an important day for retailers, and the
mall was decorated like a prize Christmas gift. Lights dangled from the
ceiling. Wreaths adorned store fronts, next to signs that advertised
savings up to 50 percent off.
Called Black Friday because it marks the point where retail stores
become profitable for the year, the day after Thanksgiving is among the
busiest shopping days of the year. It was the sixth busiest shopping day
of the season last year, according to the International Council of
Shopping Centers. Saturday, Dec. 22, was the busiest.
Indeed, organized early risers like Sheaffer and Strong are apparently
more the exception than the rule. Business at the mall typically builds
as Christmas Day approaches, said Patrick Leonard, owner of Custom
Plaques.
"When it gets close to Christmas, it probably gets three times as
crowded," Leonard said.
Nevertheless, Leonard is pleased with early sales. New England Patriots
items are still hot sellers, although the team has apparently fallen
from its Super Bowl peak. A Patriots hat, with fiber-optic flashing
lights is particularly popular for $24.95, Leonard said. So is a chess
game that pits Red Sox players against Yankees players for $39.95.
Laprade of Clarks isn't worried that the struggling economy will hurt
sales. "On the news, they say people are value shopping. I don't see
it," he said.
Shoppers Sheaffer and Strong certainly aren't cutting back.
"I'm spending more," Sheaffer said. "I love Christmas. If I see
something I want for somebody, I just buy it."
