Shoppers search for deals on Black Friday
QUINCY (WGEM) - Dozens of Black Friday shoppers were on hand when JCPenney in Hannibal opened its doors early Friday morning.
The store opened at 5:00 a.m. Some of the first shoppers, who’d been huddling in their cars to keep warm from the chilly weather walked in.
Judy Anderson was at JCPenney shortly after the doors opened, and said she shops every year on Black Friday. She said she was shopping for her grandkids, looking mainly for toys and clothes. She said she also wanted to take advantage of discounts to buy birthday gifts for later in the winter. She planned on shopping at several other stores on Friday morning.
Quincy resident Matthew Allison said he was out shopping for his family with his girlfriend and her mother. He said this was one of the first years he had shopped early on Black Friday. He said he was not looking for certain items, but instead wanted to find good deals.
Many Black Friday shoppers in Hannibal agreed with Allison and said they were browsing to find discounts and utilize store coupons, versus trying to find specific items.
The National Retail Federation said it expected that to be a common trend during the holiday shopping season this year.
The NRF said it expected robust store traffic over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend with shoppers looking to take advantage of lower prices. According to its survey, the top reason people planned to shop during Thanksgiving was because the deals were too good to pass up.
An estimated 166.3 million people planned to shop from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday this year, according to the NRF. The estimate is the highest number expected since it began tracking data in 2017.
This year’s anticipated high traffic volume comes despite historic inflation and looming recession fears.
The NRF said some people will likely cut back on other purchases to make room for their holiday shopping spending, and will be more strategic when searching for discounts and comparing prices.
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