The holiday shopping season has arrived with customers taking advantage of deals on Black Friday and Small Business Saturday.
The National Retail Federation estimated that roughly 164 million people in the country were planning on going shopping Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday, according to their annual survey released last Friday. Most were expected to shop on Black Friday — the NRF predicted nearly 71 percent — making it the busiest day of the long weekend for sales.
Yes Computers in Northampton had what owner Mark Wineburg called a “casual” Black Friday sale that will run throughout the weekend. Among the bargains: 20- to 50-percent discounts off items storewide, a $50 to $100 discount off every Mac computer, and $20 off Apple watches.
Typically, Wineburg said, Yes Computers is three to four times busier than average on the weekend after Thanksgiving with a 300 percent increase in sales.
While NRF predicts that there will be about 75 million shoppers on Cyber Monday, or 46 percent of those surveyed, Wineburg has found that many shoppers prefer to walk into the store and have a “helping hand” in picking out computers or iPads.
“People can walk around our store, it’s pretty mellow, and people aren’t pushing through crowds,” Wineburg said, adding that the store decided to stop doing the midnight opening for Black Friday a few years ago to give employees a break.
Shoppers often ask for help with setting up new tablets or transferring their information from an old computer to a new one, Wineburg said.
People want to have “social interaction, not just (shopping) from pushing a button while sitting on your couch,” Wineburg said.
At Target on Route 9 in Hadley, there were customers walking away with televisions, hockey nets, bags full of clothing, a Barbie house set and artificial Christmas trees.
Sez Morales, a manager at the store, said this year’s Black Friday had the largest turnout in the last three years. A line formed for the midnight opening and most headed straight for the electronics section, she said.
“I know already this year we are killing sales,” said Morales, who pointed out that the store has been stepping up in toy sales since Toys R Us began closing stores earlier this year.
Sales have gone up steadily as Target tries to compete with Walmart and Amazon, Morales said, adding that there were many online orders as well, which have been “huge for us.”
Luahn Page, a co-owner of JoiaBeauty on Crafts Avenue in Northampton, was offering special discounts for Black Friday — and getting ready for Small Business Saturday.
On Saturday, the beauty store will offer a small gift with purchases, warm refreshments for customers, and a raffle that people can participate in, Page said.
“People are buying gifts for Christmas, and it seems to be very positive,” Page said. “It doesn’t feel so much like a chore; people are upbeat.”
The NRF estimated that 67 million shoppers, or 41 percent of those surveyed, were going to shop on Small Business Saturday — a national shopping holiday.
Still, for some shoppers, the weekend of discounts hardly register.
“What’s Black Friday?” Cierra Strawder, of Michigan, asked with a laugh, later admitting she was only joking.
Strawder was standing in line at New England Treatment Access, the recreational marijuana shop that opened last Tuesday, with her friend Morgan Bengel, of Springfield, who said that Black Friday is barely a blip on her radar.
“Two years ago, we went for a TV,” said Bengel, who added that she usually gets her Christmas shopping done online.
“But not on Black Friday,” Bengel said.
Luis Fieldman can be reached at lfieldman@gazettenet.com