Black Friday shoppers blanket stores but also scour websites for deals

Long Islanders embraced multichannel shopping on Black Friday, blanketing retail stores, while also scouring websites in search of holiday bargains.

Online Black Friday spending nationwide reached $4.1 billion as of 8 p.m.,  up 23.3 percent from last year, according to Adobe Analytics, a unit of San Jose-based software company Adobe Inc. 

That upsurge in online shopping prompted Christina Pullo, 40, of Manhasset, to take a contrarian path to the P.C. Richard & Son store in Greenvale Friday morning in the hope of avoiding overflowing parking lots while buying a TV for her kitchen.

"We figured everybody else shops online [so] we'd shop in the store," she said, citing the personal service.

Pullo, however, said she would shop online to avoid in-store competition for children's toys. "I don't want to fight with anybody." 

By midday, traffic was building at Roosevelt Field mall, with long lines and full tables at the food court.

Yohan Auguste, 21, of Melbourne, Florida, took a break from shopping to have lunch with his cousins and girlfriend. 

“This is my first and last Black Friday," he said.  "Too many people.”

Auguste's cousin, Mike Whiteman, 23, of Queens,  said discounts at the mall were about the same as last year, but "the crowd, I think, is thicker."

Sabrina Wiecher and John Norberto, both 23, traveled from upstate Fort Drum to visit family in Farmingdale for the holiday. 

Their local mall is small, the couple said, so they decided to try Roosevelt Field, which has more than 250 specialty stores.

“It’s a little overwhelming, how crowded it is,” said Norberto, who bought a LEGO City  set for himself.

More than 116 million consumers had been expected to shop in stores and online Friday — the second day in a five-day period from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday that includes some of the biggest shopping days of the year. It's projected to be part of a strong 2018 holiday shopping season, according to the National Retail Federation, a Washington, D.C.-based trade group.

Even thrift stores got a piece of the Black Friday action.

A Goodwill store in East Northport offered 10 percent discounts from 9 to 11 a.m., and still had more customers than usual by 2:30 p.m., said Elena Sofia, assistant manager.

 “I like unique pieces ... that no one else has,” said Monica Grover, 21, who, along with two of her cousins, had filled a shopping cart with clothes and shoes.

Gil Rappold, owner of Brothers Grim Games & Collectibles in Selden, said the niche nature of his store made Black Friday's business uncertain, even with deep discounts on board games and role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons.

"I'm thinking it's going to be a good day," said Rappold, whose store was on track to double its normal daily sales only an hour into business Friday. 

Some Long Islanders ventured out in the wee hours of Friday to get a jump on holiday shopping.

"We started at 12:30 this morning," said Gabriela Ulloa, 17, of Sayville, who waited in long lines in the cold at Tanger Outlets Deer Park. Later in the morning she took a break outside the Macy's at Smith Haven Mall in Lake Grove while shopping with her mother, Jaime Hechtman-Ulloa, 54.

"We got some great deals," said Hechtman-Ulloa. Normally a last-minute shopper, she said she intended to be done early this year. "I'm hoping to be done with Christmas shopping by Dec. 5. Wrapped and everything," she said. 

Veteran Black Friday shoppers Lisa Carter and Alisa Peters of Centereach hit the stores at 10 p.m. Thursday and were still out early Friday morning, arriving at Smith Haven Mall an hour before it opened at 6 a.m.

"We went to Walmart, Target, Kohl's and then breakfast and then here," said Peters, 45.

Carter, 37, said that Black Friday crowds aren't like they used to be, now that many retailers opt to open earlier on Thanksgiving evening.

Jason Zollo, 40, of Lake Ronkonkoma, who jumped on the Black Friday bandwagon about three years ago — his wife has been at it for nearly a decade, he said — observed that morning crowds were "significantly" smaller this year.

"The stores can't compete with Amazon and Walmart.com," he said while shopping at Smith Haven Mall Friday morning.

He said he views the day -- which began at 12:30 a.m. at Tanger Outlets Riverhead -- as an opportunity to spend quality time with his wife.

"There's always a game plan, and she's always behind the wheel," Zollo said. 

While Black Friday will be the biggest day for foot traffic in stores during the season, the biggest day for in-store sales revenue will be Dec. 22, which is the Saturday before Christmas, according to RetailNext, a San Jose-based retail analytics company.

Some entrepreneurs are expecting a sales jolt on the day after Black Friday.

"Small Business Saturday has always been a bigger day for us," said Marla Beckles, co-owner of Klutch, a women's clothing boutique in a Valley Stream strip mall.

Beckles and her cousin and co-owner Earth Rowe said they anticipate a boost in sales of about 40 percent on Small Business Saturday.

“We think it’s because of that strong sense of community on Long Island," Beckles said. 

Online sales for Thanksgiving were $3.7 billion, an increase of 27.9 percent from that time period last year, according to Adobe Analytics.

The top products sold online included the Nintendo Switch, which was the most popular video gaming system, according to Adobe. Top toys online included  Hot Wheels and Hatchibabies.

The National Retail Federation is projecting national retail sales in November and December to increase between 4.3 percent and 4.8 percent — or to between $717.45 billion and $720.89 billion — over sales in that period last year.