Crowds of shoppers filled stores and busy fingers clicked away during the Black Friday Weekend that culminated with Cyber Monday but did the Christmas shopping season get off to a good start? Yes and No according to national reports and local observers. At major shopping centers such as the Glendale Galleria, where the entire parking garage was filled to capacity at around 7:30 in the morning on Black Friday, the Galleria’s senior marketing director Janet LaFevre said retailers were optimistic. “The indication from our retailers when we talked to them was that they felt very positive and a big chunk of them actually said that they had exceeded their sales plans against last year, so we’re very encouraged,” she said. This year Glendale Galleria had more retailers open at midnight than ever before, a trend that was followed by hundreds of stores across the nation. The Disney Store at the Galleria was among the nine stores that kicked off the shopping at midnight, with 20 percent off the entire store including some of their top doorbusters at $5, $10 and $15, LaFevre said. Large crowds came in waves to the Galleria as other stores opened their doors at two, three, four and five in the morning. But it seemed that the usual crowds that make parking nearly impossible during Black Friday were smaller than in years past at some shopping locations, according to Jack Kyser, Senior Vice President and Chief Economist at the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation, who visited several shopping malls in the Los Angeles area, including the Glendale Galleria, on Black Friday. Expecting a parking nightmare, Kyser said at some shopping malls surprisingly people were able to get in and out without many hassles. Overall, it’s hard to gauge the success of the holiday weekend, Kyser said. “It’s going to be touch and go as to what type of Black Friday we had,” he said. According to national reports, although more people showed up to shop, they spent less money. The National Retail Federation reported that nationwide 195 million shoppers visited stores and websites over the four-day Thanksgiving weekend, up from 172 million last year. However, average spending fell 7.9 percent to $343.31 per person, from $372.57 a year ago. Other reports indicate sales rose slightly from last year. ShopperTrak RCT Corp., a research firm that monitors sales at more than 50,000 stores, reported that sales on the day after Thanksgiving rose just 0.5 percent to $10.66 billion, compared with a 3 percent year-over-year Black Friday increase in 2009 and an 8.3 percent surge in 2007. Cyber Monday proved to be more successful, according to other reports. Web analytics company Coremetrics’ Cyber Monday Benchmark Report found sales were up 24.1 percent over Black Friday and they were up 13.7 percent compared with Cyber Monday 2008.
