A Look into Black Friday, Plus a Guide to Spending the Day at the Poughkeepsie Galleria
Gabriella Gamba & Andrea Suarez Navarro
Recent years have displayed how many Americans are no longer interested in cutting the turkey with family on Thanksgiving day, but rather packing the car and getting to department stores before their doors opened at midnight.
Strangely enough, a day devoted to appreciating those around us and everything we have soon became spending money to get “the best deals” on before the holiday shopping.
The first thing that may come to mind when thinking of the day after Thanksgiving is the food coma that we’ll all inevitably be in. The second thing, however, is the nationally recognized “holiday” where Americans wake up well before the crack of dawn to head to the mall for the year’s best deals on Christmas gifts. This day is known as Black Friday.
For years, this country stood on the firm ground that on the morning after Thanksgiving, thousands, if not millions, of people would form lines outside of department stores, malls and other shopping centers to ensure that they would be able to buy — normally expensive items, at extremely low costs.
Typically, these lines turned to mobs as doors opened, sometimes becoming extremely dangerous to local shoppers. On Black Friday in 2008, an employee at a Wal-Mart in Long Island was pronounced dead due to this early-morning rush shoppers looking to snag the discounted items had trampled and injured the employee. These days, though, the Black Friday crowds are much smaller and more calm.
For the most part, the biggest preparations stores like American Eagle, Banana Republic, and Charlotte Russe are doing to make sure the big day runs smoothly is set up as much merchandise as possible while also marketing the entire store. By taking products out of the back rooms and onto the floor it allows the store to provide the most possible items for shoppers to purchase. Along with proper marketing and indications, this tactic allows the merchandise to sell itself. Stores like Express and Macy’s hire and train extra employees so that their stores are more than fully-staffed, providing full coverage for the occasion.
The Poughkeepsie Galleria’s Hollister store does similar preparations, but adds an extra step, just in case. Employees set up queues by putting red tape down in organized lines around the store allowing them to organize shoppers and combat the potentially chaotic register lines.
As store managers begin to take precautionary measures come Black Friday, a vast majority of the mall’s stores will begin to open on Thanksgiving Day. In order to sell as much merchandise as possible these stores have opted to open the evening before Black Friday, while others are choosing to take on a fee and only open on Black Friday itself — giving families time to spend Thanksgiving day the way it was meant to.
With the exception of these stores, the Poughkeepsie Galleria will be open to the public from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. on Thanksgiving day, and from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Black Friday.
Below is a list of some of the stores at the Poughkeepsie Galleria participating in Black Friday and Thanksgiving sales.
Aeropostale
Thanksgiving Day: 8pm — 1am
Black Friday: 7am — 10pm
Sale: Not yet released
ALDO
Thanksgiving Day: 8pm — 1am
Black Friday: 7am — 10pm
Sale: Not yet released
American Eagle
Thanksgiving Day: 8pm — 1am
Black Friday: 7am — 10pm
Sale: Could not disclose, but will last through the weekend
Banana Republic
Thanksgiving Day: CLOSED
Black Friday: 7am — 10pm
Sale:Could not disclose
Bath and Body Works
Thanksgiving Day: 8pm — 1am
Black Friday: 7am — 10pm
Sale: Not yet released
Best Buy
Thanksgiving Day: 5pm — 1am
Black Friday: 7am — 10pm
Sale: Door busters Thursday and Friday for the first couple of hours.
Brookstone
Thanksgiving Day: 8pm — 1am
Black Friday: 7am — 10pm
Sale: Buy one get one half off the entire store
Charlotte Russe
Thanksgiving Day: 8pm — 1am
Black Friday: 7am — 10pm
Sale: Not yet released
Children’s Place
Thanksgiving Day: 8pm — 1am
Black Friday: 7am — 10pm
Sale: Not yet released
Dick’s Sporting Goods
Thanksgiving Day: 6pm — 2am
Black Friday: 5am — 10pm
Sale: Not yet released
DSW
Thanksgiving Day: CLOSED
Black Friday: 7am — 10pm
Sale: Boots $49.95 and under. Buy 2 get $20 off
Express
Thanksgiving Day: 8pm — 1am
Black Friday: 7am — 10pm
Sale: Not yet released
Famous Footwear
Thanksgiving Day: 8pm — 1am
Black Friday: 7am — 10pm
Sale: Buy 1 get 50% off
Finish Line
Thanksgiving Day: 8pm — 1am
Black Friday: 7am — 10pm
Sale: Not yet released
Footlocker
Thanksgiving Day: 8pm — 1am
Black Friday: 7am — 10pm
Sale: Not yet released
Forever 21
Thanksgiving Day: 8pm — 1am
Black Friday: 7am — 10pm
Sale: Entire store will be 30%-50% off.
Gamestop
Thanksgiving Day: CLOSED
Black Friday: 7am — 10pm
Sale: Not yet released
Hollister
Thanksgiving Day: 8pm — 1am
Black Friday: 7am — 10pm
Sale: Select things will be 40%-50% off. Select sweaters for $20, jeans for $25
H&M
Thanksgiving Day: CLOSED
Black Friday: 7am — 10pm
Sale: Pre-Black Friday deals going on right now. Unsure of exact sales.
JC Penney
Thanksgiving Day: 3pm straight through Black Friday at 10pm
Sale: Could not disclose
Justice
Thanksgiving Day: 8pm — 1am
Black Friday: 7am — 10pm
Sale: Not yet released
Kay Jewelers
Thanksgiving Day: CLOSED
Black Friday: 7am — 10pm
Sale: No specific deals
Lane Bryant
Thanksgiving Day: CLOSED
Black Friday: 7am — 10pm
Sale: Not yet released
LOFT
Thanksgiving Day: CLOSED
Black Friday: 7am — 10pm
Sale:Not yet released
Macy’s
Thanksgiving Day: 5pm straight through Black Friday at 10 pm
Sale: Doorbusters start Thanksgiving day at 5pm. Select items on sale. Cashmere sweaters on sale. Boots for her starting at $19.99.
Old Navy
Thanksgiving Day: 4pm straight through Black Friday at 12 midnight
Sale: Entire store is 50% off.
Pacsun
Thanksgiving Day: 8pm — 1am
Black Friday: 7am — 10pm
Sale: Unsure of exact sales, but usually BOGO
Payless Shoe Source
Thanksgiving Day: 8pm — 1am
Black Friday: 7am — 10pm
Sale: Not yet released
Radioshack
Thanksgiving Day: 8pm — 1am
Black Friday: 7am — 10pm
Sale: Not yet released
Sephora
Thanksgiving Day: 8pm — 1am
Black Friday: 7am — 10pm
Sale: Unsure of exact sales, but, usually have $10/$15 kits.
Sunglass Hut
Thanksgiving Day: 8pm — 1am
Black Friday: 7am — 10pm
Sale: Nothing specific for Black Friday
Target
Thanksgiving Day: 6pm straight through Black Friday at 10pm
Sale: Could not disclose
Teavana
Thanksgiving Day: 8pm — 1am
Black Friday: 7am — 10pm
Sale: Could not disclose specifics, but there will be freebies
Victoria’s Secret / PINK
Thanksgiving Day: 8pm — 1am
Black Friday: 7am — 10pm
Sale: VS — $58 1.7 oz. perfume on sale for $25; accessories and beauty sets buy one get one free; all sports bras half off. For Angel Card holders — tote will be free with $75 purchase. PINK — $25 bundle: quarter-zip top plus legging.
Yankee Candle
Thanksgiving Day: 8pm — 1am
Black Friday: 7am — 10pm
Sale: Tote for $25 with any purchase of $25; small tumbler on sale for $5
Zales
Thanksgiving Day: CLOSED
Black Friday: 7am — 10pm
Sale:No huge discounts than the rest of the year.
**Promotions may be subject to change depending on time, limitation of product, etc.
Although a majority of the stores mentioned on the list were unable to fully disclose their sales and promotions for this upcoming Friday, many managers and employees mentioned they are expecting big crowds. As Best Buy manager mentioned, “We simply execute the plan were given, and make sure the customers are taken care of,” A JCPenney employee commented how at this time, “[stores] need to be offering different sales to get the people in and engaged.” With this in mind, shoppers can be sure that they will be able to find promising deals and promotions. Something we can all be thankful for aside from our friends, family, and health, is that the Black Friday chaos isn’t as chaotic as it was back in ’08. Happy shopping groundhogs!
