Retailers in Eugene are glowing about Black Friday, the Friday after Thanksgiving and the most profitable shopping day of the year.
Despite high unemployment in Oregon and fears about a recession, retailers consistently reported that the Thanksgiving weekend saw profits comparable to last year’s. The stores that saw a slower weekend didn’t blame it on the Dow Jones. They blamed it on the Civil War football game between the University of Oregon and Oregon State University.
Jim Trench, store manager at JCPenney at Valley River Center, said that Friday surpassed the store’s plan for the day. A plan outlines what employees expect to see, he said, in relation to profits and the number of customers. Managers had expected Friday to be slower than usual, and planned accordingly. Profits were slightly down, Trench said, but not nearly as much as expected.
“Black Friday was an encouraging day,” he said. “Customers came out in force.”
Derek Reefe, assistant store manager at Target in Springfield, saw the same trend Trench experienced. “It went very well,” he said, adding that while Friday and Saturday were excellent, sales dwindled somewhat by Sunday. Total sales for the weekend were very close to last year’s, he said.
For some stores, adding attractions helped boost weekend sales. Barnes & Noble Community Relations Manager Andrew Kim said his store hosted fundraisers for arts groups and schools throughout the weekend, and it paid off.
Even though Barnes & Noble doesn’t host a “doorbuster” sale early in the morning like department stores do, Kim said, the store still had a successful weekend.
“We did great – (customer) traffic was brisk,” he said. Sales throughout the weekend were on par or even a little better from years past, he said.
Oakway Center co-owner and manager Linda Korth said she’s heard good reports from stores in her building. Overall, retailers at Oakway didn’t see a difference between this year and last.
Nationwide, the trend was similar. The National Retail Federation reported that spending on Black Friday jumped 7.2 percent, from $347.55 per person last year to $372.57 per person this year. NRF president and CEO Tracy Mullin attributed the successful day to pent-up demand for electronics and clothing, but also warned that “holiday sales are not expected to continue at this brisk pace.”
For some Eugene retailers, the brisk pace stopped on Saturday because much of the city’s population either traveled to Corvallis or stayed home to watch the Ducks throttle the Beavers in the Civil War.
Lisa Hartwick, owner of Hartwick’s in the Fifth Street Public Market, said Friday and Sunday were normal and comparable to last year – but Saturday was noticeably slower.
The Duck Store merchandise manager Arlyn Schaufler said sales were down significantly from last year, when there was a football game at Autzen Stadium on Thanksgiving weekend. However, he said sales were similar to two years ago, when there was no home game.
Schaufler added that while sportswear sales are up seven percent for the year, customers are buying cheaper items than in the past. “I think what we’re seeing is people are spending less money,” he said.
Dave Tefft, sales associate at the Shutterbug at Valley River Center, said the same as Schaufler – the weekend was slow because of the Civil War.
However, even if Black Friday and Thanksgiving weekend had been as profitable as in years past, Tefft said November as a whole wasn’t successful. The Shutterbug has made only half as many profits this November as last, he said.
Phil Rist, executive vice president of Strategic Initiatives at BIGresearch said retailers should remain conservative with their expectations for the holiday season. In spite of a successful weekend, he said, “consumers are still being cautious.”
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