NORFOLK, Va. – That mad dash for those Black Friday deals starting as soon as Thanksgiving dinner is done, might be gone at least for now.
“Black Friday might be a thing of the past, but who knows, really,” said Yakku Jordaan, of Norfolk.
Many big box stores like Best Buy, Walmart, Kohl’s, Target, and even Aldi grocery stores are keeping their doors closed on Thanksgiving Day for the second year in a row as the pandemic is still in play.
“I think with the holiday, especially with COVID, it’s a different type of holiday now because you have two elements at play,” said Dominick Miserandino, a business analyst. “You have businesses having trouble hiring people. I think COVID was the start of this all but then we started changing our business mindset saying, what is important to us? Maybe standing in line is not so important anymore.”
Norfolk Premium Outlets and MacArthur Center were also closed this Thanksgiving, along with other area malls.
“Yeah, I guess it was a little surprising,” Jordaan said.
The hunt for the hottest deals for Christmas is starting even earlier with some bargains out before Halloween.
“I know the Premium Outlet, they said they had a lot of deals going throughout the month before we get to Black Friday,” said Jordaan. “They said you can pick up a good deal on Black Friday, but you could also pick up a deal any time this month and it would be just as good.”
A National Retail Federation survey found 61% of people have already started their holiday shopping with 46% of people starting even earlier this year than they typically do.
But this Thanksgiving weekend is expected to be a busy one. According to the NRF president, it will play a major role in possibly breaking records this holiday season.
The NRF expects nearly 2 million more people to shop starting on the holiday through Cyber Monday.
“I personally have switched over to Cyber Mondays because I prefer shopping online, but I know a lot of people don’t like it though and they do prefer going in stores and seeing the product at hand,” said Jordaan.
The Thanksgiving Day shopping blitz has now become a thing of the past for Target. The store announced this week its decision to close on the holiday will now be permanent moving forward. Other retailers could follow suit.
