Despite fierce competition from online bargains, local retailers are expecting improved sales on Black Friday.
The push to lure shoppers into bricks-and-mortar stores has become even more critical this year as online giants such as Amazon offered earlier deals to drive people to shop without having to set foot in a mall.
Honolulu women’s clothing boutique Eden in Love upped the ante this year with live music, free Jamba Juice bowls and a “crazy clapping line” that lasted more than eight minutes as at least 800 people entered its 50-percent-off pop-up shop at the former Marukai Market Place at Ward Village.
“For us it’s the hype and the excitement to be a part of something super fun,” said owner Tanna Dang, who is expecting an increase in sales this year.
Pearlridge Center General Manager Fred Paine projected slightly higher year-over-year revenue at the Aiea mall, despite “very few people” waiting at the doors for the mall’s 6 a.m. opening — in contrast to the couple hundred who previously camped overnight before retailers started offering Black Friday deals earlier throughout the month.
“Anecdotally, it looks like sales are going to be slightly above last year. It’s better than being down,” Paine said. “With the state that retail is in, I’ll take 2 percent. Everything’s tightening, and there’s only so many dollars to go around, so any increase I look at as being very favorable. There’s so much competition now with online shopping and all that stuff. It’s still pretty vibrant here in Hawaii.”
More consumers are shopping throughout the day, instead of what once was a mad rush when the mall opened, he said.
“It was very busy. Like-minded people like to be together, and there’s a certain energy. You can feel it in the air,” he added.
That may be because consumer confidence is at the highest since 2000 due to a healthy job market, according to the latest report by the Conference Board.
“Business seems pretty strong this year (compared with last year),” said Reid Fujita, owner of Cinnamon Girl. “Our customers probably know that we do Black Friday on Black Friday. We just have kept it traditional. Economically, people are a little more optimistic, so it seems like it’s reflecting that so I too feel optimistic that we’re going to end the day a little bit up.”
At Oahu’s newest shopping center, Ka Makana Alii, Marketing Director Alex Kirley said, “It has been nuts today. We were pretty busy last year, too, but this year seems like we’re rocking and rolling.”
Kirley added, “A majority of our retailers are exceeding last year’s sales. It’s a very brisk pace. The parking lot is full, and there are a lot of shoppers here with bags in hand. It feels great.”
Sam Shenkus, spokeswoman for Royal Hawaiian Center, said sales are up at the Waikiki shopping center.
“We’re in Waikiki, the hotels are all full and we have some really good deals,” said Shenkus, estimating that sales will be up 3 to 5 percent over last year. “We have literally something for everyone. Our parking lot is full. There’s people everywhere. There’s lots of crowds. People are relaxing and making a day of their shopping.”
Iakona Medeiros, store manager for Razor Concepts and Razor Sports at Pearlridge Center, said the mall feels busier than it was a year ago.
“There’s more people walking around. I don’t think we had this many customers last year,” he said. “A lot of stores had specials so early in the year that today the specials aren’t as good. We had the correct specials at the right time.”
Black Friday, traditionally one of the busiest shopping days of the holiday season, has morphed from a single day when people got up early to score “doorbusters” into a whole month of sales, which has diluted the crowds.
Retailers worked hard to attract shoppers to stores on Black Friday, offering in-store-only bargains meant to counter the ease of shopping at home online. They’ve also made a big push toward offering store pickup for online orders, hoping to get people to pick up more items.
The National Retail Federation projects this year’s sales will at least match last year’s 3.6 percent increase and estimates online spending will rise 11 to 15 percent. Retail analysts, however, expect Amazon to take half of the holiday season’s sales growth.
Amazon said Friday that Thanksgiving continued to be one of its busiest shopping days, with orders through its app up more than 50 percent from a year ago. Overall, online sales on Black Friday rose 18.4 percent from a year ago to $640 million as of Friday morning, according to Adobe Analytics. Thanksgiving generated a total of $2.87 billion in online spending, up 18.3 percent from a year ago, the data firm said.
The biggest shopping weekend of the year is expected to get 69 percent of Americans, or 164 million people, to lighten their wallets, according to the National Retail Federation.
“The consumer still likes to go to the stores,” said Charles O’Shea, Moody’s lead retail analyst. “I’ve seen a lot of traffic. There’s going to be a lot of online shopping. But I think the brick-and-mortar stores have done a nice job so far in attracting shoppers.”
Rose Vierra, store manager at Town & Country Surf at Pearlridge, said that for the first time this year, there were more people waiting outside when the store opened at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving.
“They know we have really great deals, so they come for certain things that they really want to get checked off their lists,” Vierra said. “It’s the better deals, basically.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
