Why Black Friday is still a big deal for these Charlotte-area residents

For at least 10 years, Dana Hefner and sister-in-law Alison Barnes have gone shopping together on Black Friday, a family tradition they continued this week.

Hefner, a Huntersville resident, and Barnes, of Mount Holly, headed over Friday morning to Birkdale Village, an outdoor mall in Huntersville – stop No. 1 on their planned shopping excursion. Clutching drinks they’d just bought at Starbucks, the two acknowledged they could have stayed home and shopped online, but it was important to spend Black Friday as they always have.

“I actually did online shopping, too, last night. But it’s kind of just a tradition that we like to go and spend time together,” said Hefner, who plans to do more online shopping on Monday.

Despite the growth and ease of online shopping, Black Friday continues to draw people to malls and brick-and-mortar stores, where some shoppers remain willing to wait in chilly lines before dawn to take advantage of discounted items.

But the ability to do more shopping online has also taken a big toll on Black Friday.

In some places, the event lures smaller crowds and less spectacle than in the past. That trend has coincided with many shoppers flocking to stores that offer deals the day before, on Thanksgiving.

“I don’t feel like it should be called Black Friday anymore,” Denise Montemarano said Friday as she looked for deals at Birkdale Village, where crowds were thin and there was plenty of available parking at 9 a.m.

“I feel like years ago, when I did it, it was Black Friday,” the Mooresville resident said. “You got up on Friday morning, got your coffee, waited in line at 3 in the morning with everybody else freezing and you did your shopping. I was home by 12:30 (p.m.) and I had all my shopping done.”

Montemarano said she came to Birkdale in part because she figured crowds would be bigger elsewhere. She said one attraction for her to shopping at a physical store on Black Friday is avoiding shipping costs that might be charged online.

Nationwide, Black Friday crowds have dwindled as many shoppers hold off until the Monday after Thanksgiving, known as Cyber Monday. That’s when some retailers provide deals for purchases made online.

This week, Elon University released survey results showing more than a third of North Carolina shoppers plan to buy on Cyber Monday – compared with one in five who expected to shop in stores on Black Friday.

Even with more people shopping online, Thanksgiving weekend remains the biggest shopping weekend of the year for U.S. retailers, the National Retail Federation said this month in releasing annual consumer survey results. Nearly 70 percent of Americans, or 164 million people, are estimated to shop or consider shopping this weekend, the federation said.

Representatives for local shopping malls contacted by the Observer gave upbeat reports but did not provide customer figures for Friday.

At Northlake Mall, marketing director Sherri Chisolm-Whiteside said the shopping center had “great” crowds on Friday, just as it did last year.

SouthPark mall spokeswoman Claire McKenzie said the mall has seen a steady stream of shoppers over the weekend and that the parking lot had become increasingly full throughout Friday.

The Elon poll found that nearly 60 percent of North Carolina residents plan to spend about the same this holiday season as last year, while 25 percent said they will spend less and 13 percent said they will spend more.

Angela Crawford, who lives in Cornelius and was shopping at Birkdale, said she will probably spend less this holiday season than last year.

“I feel like I give gifts to people, but I think it’s better to try to give to charities, try to give to organizations that help people who are less fortunate,” she said. “So that’s probably where most of my Christmas money will go this year.”

Krisha Baxter, of Huntersville, said she spent Black Friday as she normally does: tagging along with family but not buying a whole lot herself. On Friday, she searched for deals at Dick’s Sporting Goods and Pier 1 Imports. The night before, she shopped online.

“I got a lot of people done yesterday with that,” she said, but added that venturing out on Black Friday still offers something online shopping doesn’t.

“It’s more fun,” she said. “It’s an experience.”

This story was originally published November 24, 2017 at 3:54 PM with the headline "Why Black Friday is still a big deal for these Charlotte-area residents."