Dutchess County Residents Weigh in on Black Friday Frenzy
Sales hit record highs on Black Friday as millions of Americans woke up and made the early morning journey to collect treasured Christmas gifts. According to Adobe Digital Insights, more than US$5-billion was spent in the United States on Black Friday 2017. Two-fifths of that was spent using a mobile device. Overall, that’s a jump of nearly 17% over the previous Black Friday.
A majority of stores such as Target, Walmart and Dick’s Sporting Goods capitalized on the event by beginning the sales on Thanksgiving day, with hours ranging from 6 pm to as late as 2 am. However, some stores did not decide to extend their Thanksgiving hours, such as Barnes and Noble, Apple, Burlington Coat Factory, Costco and BJ’s Wholesale Club. A new trend is starting to appear where stores see having Thanksgiving hours as redundant and an unneeded stress on their workers. Residents and stores in the Dutchess County this past Thanksgiving break voiced their opinions on the matter of Thanksgiving hours and Black Friday in general.
Town of Poughkeepsie resident Valerie Mark, while shopping at Home Despot, remarks that she never went to any Black Friday sales or any Thanksgiving shopping areas on that day. “It was something that was a big deal for my extended family on my dad’s side,” she says. “My aunt and a couple of my cousins on Thanksgiving day after we had eaten dinner they would just pour over all the advertisements and clip everything don’t really take part in Black Friday or Thanksgiving day shopping.”
Past Thanksgiving shopping and Black Friday sales have led to disturbing and sometimes violent measures taken between customers over sought after gifts such as flat-screen TVs or the latest iPhone. Some residents in the area do not see Black Friday as a physical battle to get the best gift for loved ones, but as a treasured tradition to take part with family members.
Hopewell Junction resident Sami Bott follows this tradition with her brother by shopping at Woodbury Commons outlet stores only on every Black Friday. She thinks that there isn’t a dilemma between buying gifts on Black Friday and spending time with family on Thanksgiving.“I don’t really see that as an issue, to me it is just a part of Thanksgiving and bonding with my family,” says Bott.
Janice Spinks, a town of Poughkeepsie resident and Ocean State Job Lot Employee, states it a good amount of people come to the store but she notices when she is shopping as well that most of the crowds go to the Poughkeepsie Galleria.
“It never really gets too crazy here on Black Friday,” says Spinks.
In Poughkeepsie, it seems that some stray away from the commotion that Black Friday brings but others also see it as a time in which family and friends can come together, have fun, and get the best price for family gifts.
