Update: 60,000 shop at Tanger on Black Friday

Black Thursday has been added to the list of days that kick-start the holiday shopping season. It joins its big brother Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday.

Many stores pushed the envelope and opened their doors – or stayed open – Thanksgiving Day or evening to start the Christmas shopping season. It’s the time of the year, savvy shoppers say, they can find the best deals.

For the first time, Walmart, the nation’s leading retailer, kept its doors open Thanksgiving Day with special sales at 10 p.m. Nov. 24 and 12:01 a.m. and 8 a.m. on Nov. 25. Traditionally, Walmart has closed its doors and then reopened for special Black Friday sales. The Rehoboth Beach Walmart was packed with shoppers Thanksgiving night; shoppers had to stand in line to get shopping carts.

Tanger Outlets opened at 10 p.m. Thanksgiving night with special sales and give-aways. At 10 p.m., the first 100 shoppers at shopper services received $10 gift cards. For nightowls in the wee hours of Black Friday, another 50 shoppers received $20 gift cards at 2 a.m. From 2 a.m. to 6:05 a.m., two shoppers won televisions.

What started out as a time for early risers has turned into a time for night owls.

Amy Norgate, Tanger Outlets general manager, said sales at the outlet’s “Mile of Style” were slightly higher than last year. “The earlier opening and mild weather combined for a calmer opening,” she said. “It was not as frantic as in past years.”

Norgate said the outlets judge shopping traffic on the number of cars in its three  parking lots, which were full most of the weekend. More than 60,000 vehicles were counted this year.

According to the National Retail Federation, this year’s Black Friday weekend was one for the record books. Nationwide, sales were up nearly 7 percent, topping $52 billion over the four-day period with more than $11 billion spent on Black Friday. Half of all shoppers purchased clothing and 40 percent bought electronics.

Nationwide, 25 percent of Black Friday shoppers were at stores by midnight, an all-time high. Only 10 percent of shoppers were out a midnight in 2010 and 3 percent in 2009, according to the National Retail Federation.

Local shoppers follow national trends

Tina Wright of Lewes, who has been scoping out Black Friday deals for the past six years, hit the stores around 9:30 p.m. Thursday with her list.

As soon as the dishes were washed Thanksgiving night, she sat down to plan out her shopping trip, starting with newspaper ads and flyers. Prioritizing is important; it’s not a time for unplanned shopping without a specific list, she said.

“I’ve always found good bargains,” she said. Two years ago, she bought a 35-inch flat screen TV for about half the usual price at Walmart. “But it’s chaos, and if you are looking for a big item that has to be the very first place you go. We always head to electronics right away,” she said.

Saving money is the main reason Wright and her relatives brave the crowds. “But it is irritating that you go to a store to buy something for Halloween and they are playing Christmas music,” she said. “They are rushing things a bit.”

Todd Hammond, manager of Sunglass Hut in Tanger Outlets Midway, had his store doors wide open with 12 employees ready even before the official 10 p.m. Thanksgiving night opening time.

“At one shot, this is the busiest day we have,” he said. With a buy-one, get-one free sale, he said the store would make half of what it makes in a normal week in a few hours. “I love it,” he said.

The longest lines of any stores at Tanger Outlets were at Midway’s Coach and Sony stores. The lines were so long that only a few shoppers were permitted in the stores at a time.

Alexandra Strangarity of Los Angeles, Calif., was visiting family in the area, and along with friend Mark Frinder, was among the first in line to get into the doors at Coach.

Why Coach? “It’s all about the name; it’s a girl thing,” she said. Thirty percent off everything in the store was the big drawing card. “And there is no sales tax here; in L.A. it’s more than 8 percent. Monday is my mom’s birthday, and I have to come home with a Coach purse.”

Across the parking lot, hundreds stood in line for hours to be among the first 100 to receive $10 Tanger Outlets gift cards and register for door prizes. Stanley and Dolly Glatfelter of Seaford arrived around 7 p.m. and were first in line. “We do this every year,” Stanley said.

Locally, hot items this Black Friday included televisions, jeans, sweaters and scarves.

Busiest day for retailers since 2005

Since 2005, Black Friday has routinely been the busiest shopping day of the year, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers. In 2010, shoppers spent an amazing $45 billion on Black Friday, according to the National Retail Federation. The average shopper spent about $365. Up until that date, the last Saturday before Christmas was the busiest shopping day of the year.

It has become common for retailers to open early on Black Friday starting at 6 a.m., but in the late 2000s, the time began falling back to 5 a.m. or 4 a.m. Probably due to the economy, Black Friday 2011 went to new extremes with most major retailers – including Macy’s, Best Buy, Target and Kohl’s – opening at midnight for the first time. Toys R Us opened at 9 p.m. Thanksgiving night.

Some major retailers offered online pre-Black Friday deals, and travel companies have jumped on the bandwagon with Black Friday deals.

Several local stores – including CVS, Walgreen’s, Rite Aid, Old Navy and Michael’s – were open all or part of Thanksgiving Day.

Even stores that weren’t open Thanksgiving Day opened their doors early on Black Friday. Radio Shack opened at 5:30 a.m. and Peebles opened at 6 a.m. Stores also started Black Friday sales earlier to lure shoppers the entire week. Locally, Millman’s Appliances advertised Black Friday prices all week.

There are even websites devoted to – you guessed it ­– Black Friday. The BlackFriday.com is one of the top sites that contain hundreds of store advertisements and deals.

Black Friday gains steam in 1990s

For years, it was considered taboo to shop on Thanksgiving Day. Retailers followed an unwritten code not to start holiday advertising until the day after Thanksgiving. The day was set aside for families, football and parades hosted by large department stores like Macy’s.

Newspapers in Philadelphia used the term Black Friday to describe the rush of shoppers at area stores. The name stuck and by the 1990s, Black Friday had become an unofficial retail holiday nationwide. It also symbolizes a big day for retailers that turn a profit – go in the black – thanks to sales during the day.

Retailers have also had to learn from experience and adapt their marketing strategies for Black Friday. In scenes reminiscent of the movie “Jingle all the Way,” many Black Friday shoppers stand in line for hours and storm store doors to get the best bargains.

There have been shootings, injuries and arrests during Black Friday sales. In 2008, a 34-year-old Walmart employee in Valley Stream, N.Y., was trampled to death as cold shoppers rushed the doors. Many retailers now hire off-duty police officers to help with crowd control.