Hitting their spots

Having to report to work at 9 a.m. was not going to stop Mamie Singleton from joining the hordes of people who crammed the local chain stores to participate in Black Friday.

After all, Kmart was opening at 5. That gave Singleton, of the 2100 block of Wharton Street, several hours of shopping before she was due at her job at Pennsylvania Hospital, where she works as a case manager. She even had time to go to Wal-Mart and purchase a few gifts on her list.

"I’m a shopper. I love it. I feel so charged up right now," Singleton said while standing outside the new Target store in Snyder Plaza at Front and Snyder nearly 12 hours after she started her day.

The early-morning sales were good to her. Singleton said she saved $83 on her purchases at Kmart and $57 at Wal-Mart. Then in the afternoon, she took a vanload of people from the hospital to Target and saved another $12 shopping there.

"So it was worth it," she declared, still facing more miles in her shopping marathon. "I am going out tonight. I’ll probably go to the malls."

She had plans to shop East Passyunk Avenue on Saturday.

"That’s my favorite," Singleton said. "I have been going there all my life. I know all the stores and everybody down there."

Jen Nelson, also outside of Target, said she usually stays away from the stores on Black Friday.

"For me, it is too crowded," said Nelson, of the 400 block of Lombard Street. "When I shop, I want it to be leisurely, not pushing and shoving."

Yet a quest for a gift for her granddaughter lured her out of the house. Even though she only intended to make one purchase, Nelson left Target with a stocked shopping cart.

Debra Richmond was disappointed in the sales this year as she left a clothing store in Whitman Plaza. She lives in the Washington, D.C., area and was in Philadelphia for the holiday, visiting her nieces who live on the 1500 block of Corlies Street.

"It’s not as good, as it seems so far," Richmond said. "I’m not seeing anything different than your regular Saturday sale." Kathy Albanese is usually among the Black Friday shoppers arriving at the stores in the early-morning hours, she said as she and her daughter Alexa were leaving the A.C. Moore on Columbus Boulevard on their way to Old Navy.

Instead, Albanese and her daughter, of the 1100 block of Watkins Street, spent the morning ice-skating at the Blue Cross RiverRink further north on Columbus Boulevard, which opened for the first day of the season on Friday.

Her later-than-usual start to the shopping season won’t shortchange family and friends.

"I absolutely will spend as much if not more than last year," Albanese said.


Nearly every shopper interviewed on Friday said they would probably spend more this year than last. That’s good news for merchants, many of whom feared the short shopping season — there are only 26 days between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year — would affect their bottom line.

Shoppers will find the time to shop no matter how long the buying season, according to Michael Baker, director of research for the International Council of Shopping Centers.

ICSC is a nonprofit trade association for the shopping industry. Baker, an economist, maintains the organization’s shopping statistics database, the largest of its kind in the world.

"Consumers have a set list of people to buy gifts for, and they will run all the way down that list whether the season is 26 days or 32," Baker stated in an ICSC study. "Uncle Bob is not going to miss out this year just because you normally buy his gift on the 27th day."

ICSC statistics show retail sales in December have increased each year during the last 10 years, no matter the state of the economy.

But Kui Lee, owner of SK Jewelers in Whitman Plaza, Third Street and Oregon Avenue, is not confident business will be booming this year.

"It is not going to be better than last year, I have a feeling," Lee said. "But I would be more than happy if it is not worse than last year."

SK Jewelers has been in the plaza for 15 years. Black Friday can be busy, Lee said, but stores in the mall traditionally benefit more the day after Thanksgiving, when many people are off from work. The jewelry business tends to make most of its sales the week before Christmas, Lee said.

A few shops away at men’s clothing store Gigolos, the manager said Black Friday does not necessarily mean big business for her either.

"I think for the malls, Black Friday means a lot," said the manager, who asked only to be identified as Christi, "but as far as the plaza goes, it is our regular shoppers shopping."

Gigolos prepared for the short season by beginning holiday promotions before Thanksgiving.

"This week, everything exploded," said Christi, leading her to predict the store would make more money this year than last.