HARLINGEN — Downtown stores in Harlingen have opened early for Black Friday deals for many years now. Before, lines would be up to 15 to 20 people, but this year was different.
Luxe Boutique, located on Jackson Street, decided to open 30 minutes later than last year. In 2019, several people lined up outside the store to get a chance to shop for the best deals. Owner Fidi Guillen said instead of creating a Facebook event to attract multiple people this year, her team decided to post on their Instagram page a night before to avoid crowds.
“This year we started deals earlier on Monday and we wanted to take extra precautions for Black Friday,” Guillen said.
“The event traveled more last year and this year we wanted to keep the traffic lower. We had about four or five people waiting outside and we had more asking online,” she said.
The raging coronavirus pandemic kept crowds thin at malls and stores across the country on Black Friday, but a surge in online shopping offered a beacon of hope for struggling retailers after months of slumping sales, The Associated Press reported.
In normal times, Black Friday is the busiest shopping day of the year, drawing millions of people eager to get started on their holiday spending.
But these are not normal times: Crowds at stores were dramatically diminished as shoppers shifted online.
In Harlingen, Guillen believes if they had created an event, more people would have come out. But because of COVID-19 the staff wanted to minimize the number of people inside the store.
“I think everybody feels good since we opened back up. We have the hand sanitizer machine in the front and everyone stands a good six feet from each other,” Guillen said.
Luxe Boutique closed its doors but continued doing curbside deliveries as well as home deliveries during the stay-at-home order period.
Across the street, at the local Salvation Army, another line was getting started Friday morning. People were waiting to get their hands on the 50 percent discount offered by the store. Mary Hernandez, General Manager, said this Black Friday was different in comparison to the number of people. Hernandez said it was probably due to COVID-19.
“Last year we had more people. They are required to wear their masks over their nose. Right now it is kind of slow but it could get busy later,” Hernandez said.
The Salvation Army normally has regular prices but Hernandez said there are deals every other day, as well as another one coming up next week.
Across the country, game consoles, cookware, robotic vacuum cleaners, slippers and pajamas were popular among shoppers preparing to spend a lot of time indoors this winter. Many were still eager to get into holiday spirit and delight their loved ones after a tough year.
Many retailers beefed up their safety protocols to reassure wary customers about coming in on Black Friday. But stores also catered to those shopping digitally by moving their doorbuster deals online and ramping up curbside pickup options as a last grasp at sales before the year ends
“Black Friday is still critical,” said Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData Retail. “No retailer wants it to be tarnished. It’s still vital to get their consumers spending and get consumers into the holiday mood.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
