NEW YORK (Reuters) – Shoppers headed out to stores across the United States in a quest to score the best Black Friday discounts, with early promotions marking the start of a condensed holiday shopping season.
People wait in line to pay for purchases at Best Buy during a sales event on Thanksgiving day in Westbury, New York, U.S., November 28, 2019. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
The following are quotes from shoppers and store managers in the midst of America’s biggest shopping day.
JAY SMITH, 28, SHOPPING AT A MACY’S IN PENTAGON CITY:
“I think there were some good deals but overall the discounts are similar to what we have seen in the past.”
Evan Houser, 22, ELECTRONICS SALESMAN AT TARGET IN DOWNTOWN CHICAGO:
“It’s slow now because we had a big, big rush last night – we had a line around the block from like 4:30.”
RACHEL BOOKMAN, 33, SHOPPING AT A BANANA REPUBLIC:
“The deals are the same online and frankly there are more of them online, so the question increasingly is why come to the mall at all?”
DICK DOYLE, 76, SHOPPING AT MODELLS SPORTING GOODS:
“I will come to the mall, look at prices and o back and check them online. Prices and discounts online are competitive to what’s available in stores.”
SHARIDA GALLOWAY, 48, SHOPPING AT A WALMART IN CHICAGO ON THANKSGIVING:
“There were people here since 4 o’clock … I had to wait in line to get in … I feel bad. They should limit what people can get. People got six TVs in their car … they should have set a limit, like two per family – give everyone a chance to get things.”
ANTHONY WRIGHT JR, 26, SHOPPING AT BEST BUY:
“We literally drove by at 2 o’clock after looking at YouTube videos of people sleeping outside. There weren’t really a lot of people so we went back home and came back around six.”
JAVIER ANAYA, 20, SHOPPING AT A TARGET IN CULVER CITY, CALIFORNIA:
“I just got my paycheck and came here. For three years now I’ve bought a new TV on Black Friday. I was looking for one to replace the one I had. I dropped it during a move.”
NANCY ESTRADA, 21, SHOPPING FOR PLAYSTATION 4 WIRELESS HEADPHONES AND A CONTROLLER FOR AT A BEST BUY IN CULVER CITY:
“I’m comparing this with Amazon prices on Cyber Monday,” flashing her mobile phone.
BRYON TOLENTINO, 33, HEAD OF THE STATIONERY DEPARTMENT AT A WALMART IN CHICAGO ON THANKSGIVING:
“I don’t expect that many people tomorrow … they’ll know we’ve run out of the main products with the deals like the TVs … I thought it’d be so crowded you couldn’t even walk. I haven’t heard of any fighting, any arguments.”
Reporting by Melissa Fares, Andrew Kelly and Shannon Stapleton in New York, Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles and Richa Naidu in Chicago; Additional reporting by Uday Sampath in Bengaluru; Editing by Nick Zieminski and Saumyadeb Chakrabarty