Curing a turkey and pumpkin pie hangover is as easy as swiping a credit card.
The 2007 holiday shopping season officially kicked off on Friday as hordes of shoppers swarmed Santa Monica stores, grabbing hot items offered at atypically discounted prices on an annual occasion commonly referred to as “Black Friday,” so-called because it’s the time of year when many retailers turn a profit to make up for losses accumulated over the year.
For many shoppers that came out of their tryptophan-induced comas, the day began early as consumer looked to take advantage of “doorbuster sales” — exceptionally reduced priced items offered to the first few customers in line.
Though customers had mixed results shopping in Santa Monica on Friday, the majority seemed pleased with their purchases, tapping into their inner bargain-hunting skills.
Esther and Estela Hernandez arrived at the Old Navy store on the Third Street Promenade at 6 a.m., one hour after the popular clothing retailer opened its doors to early bird customers. The sisters came from their Los Angeles home to make the most of Black Friday sales, purchasing items from Forever 21, Guess, Adidas, Victoria’s Secret, Wet Seal and American Eagle by 11 a.m.
“We have a whole other cart filled with bags,” elder sister Esther Hernandez said.
The best deal, according to the sisters, was found in Victoria’s Secret.
The day was far from over. Disappointed with their first trip to Santa Monica Place, surprised by the prevalence of empty storefronts, the sisters said they were headed to the outdoor Westfield mall in Century City to visit their favorite clothing outpost — Hollister.
Santa Monica Place is expected to undergo an extensive renovation next year, bringing in more stores as a result. The refurbished mall could reopen to the public as early as fall 2009.
Los Angeles resident Tero Saari, who was visiting Santa Monica with his friend, had a less productive shopping day, holding on to a lone bag from The Gap after shopping for three hours.
The National Retail Federation projected that up to 132.9 million Americans would shop during this three-day weekend, starting with Black Friday, down from last year when more than 140 million shoppers went out during the holiday kick-off weekend, spending an average of $360 apiece. With the sub-prime credit fallout and the weak housing market, consumers are expected to be a bit more frugal this year, with sales in the 2007 holiday season expected to rise by 4 percent, below the 10-year average of a 4.8 percent increase per year, according to the NRF.
The lowest holiday sales growth was in 2002, when sales increased by only 1.3 percent.
The projection is based on economic indicators including the strength of the housing market, wage growth and employment, according to Scott Krugman, spokesman for the NRF.
Though Black Friday is one of the busier shopping days of the year, the Saturday before Christmas still reigns supreme.
“It’s a ceremonial kick-off to the holiday,” Krugman said last week.
The hustle and the bustle
As expected, Downtown Santa Monica was bustling early Friday.
In order to avoid any agitation of sitting in her car in traffic, and then waiting for a parking space to open, Santa Monica resident Therese Soltis decided to get some exercise and walk to the Third Street Promenade. She started her day at 9 a.m. in Santa Monica Place without a list of items for purchase. It was a just a day to see if there were any good bargains.
After two hours, she had collected bags containing a new iPod speaker system from the Apple store and clothes from Macy’s and Ann Taylor. The shopping bug hit Soltis after finding good deals at Macy’s and Ann Taylor.
“Last night, I thought I would come out, but I wasn’t as excited about coming out,” Soltis said. “Now I’m curious to see what else is out there.”
To some shoppers, Black Friday came as a pleasant surprise.
Ellen Lewis was in town for a week visiting her family in the Pacific Palisades when she learned about the biggest discounted shopping day of the year during Thanksgiving dinner. Lewis, who hails from Vienna, Austria, hasn’t lived in the United States in 28 years. She couldn’t recall there being a Black Friday back then.
Excited about the possibilities that lay ahead, Lewis woke up at 7 a.m., but since her car was blocked, couldn’t make it out to Downtown Santa Monica until an hour later. Her itinerary included stops at Urban Outfitters, Abercrombie & Fitch, The Gap, American Eagle Outfitters and Sephora, none of which can be found in Vienna.
She felt the sales were a bit “absurd,” unsure whether a day encouraging excessive consumer behavior is healthy for her or not.
“Living in Europe where they would never do this, it’s convenient,” Lewis said while shopping in Santa Monica Place Friday morning. “It’s definitely something extremely American, it reflects the consumer obsession here.”
Not everyone was pleased with their shopping experience.
After spending a few hours in Santa Monica and walking an estimated three miles around Downtown Santa Monica, Denetrice Reese and her friend Willetta Doucet, of Inglewood, only came out with a 12-piece cooking set they bought for $34 at Macy’s.
There seems to be fewer good deals this year, they said.
“I didn’t know most of the stores here would be closed,” Reese said of Santa Monica Place.
Though most of the holiday shopping traffic was directed to Downtown Santa Monica, business was expected to be better than usual for the Montana Avenue and Main Street business districts.
Several of the businesses along Montana Avenue offered special promotions for shoppers, including a tax-free weekend at Weathervane for Men. Clothing boutique Three Bags Full launched a week-long campaign on Wednesday to give customers 10 percent off their entire purchase if they bring in canned or boxed foods.
Jane Walker, the owner of Three Bags Full, said she sees a different clientele during Thanksgiving weekend, mainly the out-of-town customers that make it a point to visit her store whenever they are on the Westside.
“They don’t want to go to the mall, they want to find things that are different,” Walker said.
Montana Avenue doesn’t get the same level of traffic as the malls because many of the shoppers that patronize the shopping district tend to be the “mall adverse type,” said Sabine Lehmann, owner of fashion accessory store, Platino on Montana. Lehman is also the board chairman for the Montana Avenue Merchants Association.
“Our customers are very loyal, probably almost none of them go to the mall,” Lehmann said on Wednesday. “We’re not competing with the malls.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 24, 2007. Read the original PDF.