Holiday shopping weekend successful for locals

With all of the holiday deals going on, sales were down nation wide for Black Friday, but sales in Fallon seemed to do well from what store representatives reported.

According to National Retail Federation’s Thanksgiving Weekend Spending Survey conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics, 55.1 percent of holiday shoppers were in stores and online over Thanksgiving weekend, down from 58.7 percent last year. Overall shopper traffic from Thanksgiving Day through Sunday dropped 5.2 percent from 2013 (133.7 million unique holiday shoppers versus 141.1 million in 2013). Total shopping, including multiple trips by the same shopper, was also down this weekend (233.3 million versus 248.6 million).

Big corporate stores to locally owned business reaped the benefits from the holiday shopping weekend and said the foot traffic was ideal.

Too Cute Totes, His Inspirations and Blush Skin Spa and Boutique had a fantastic Small Business Saturday, said Wende Hook owner of His Inspirations.

“This year’s sales were awesome,” Hook said. “We sold slightly more than what we sold last year. We had around 100 people that day come in and shopped at the store. I think our advertising strategy and getting the word out helped us a lot on Saturday.”

Red Zinnia also had a great Saturday. Darla Luiz, a sales clerk, said she believes the store made more of a profit this year compared to last year. She said advertising and the upped promotions seemed like they helped the business.

Buttsup Duck Design said they had a good first Small Business Saturday. Owner Kelly Campbell said the shop had steady foot traffic for the hours they were open with moderate sales.

“It was definitely worth being open on Saturday,” Campbell said.

The bigger stores seemed to have had a harder time compared to the small businesses.

“A strengthening economy that changes consumers’ reliance on deep discounts, a highly competitive environment, early promotions and the ability to shop 24/7 online all contributed to the shift witnessed this weekend,” said NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay.

“We are excited to be witnessing an evolutionary change in holiday shopping by both consumers and retailers, and expect this trend to continue in the years ahead.”

GameStop hit a low this year. A representative for the store said this years projected sales didn’t go as planned and said it was unknown why they didn’t have the same successful out come as past years.

The Fallon Sears store said it had a slow Thanksgiving Day but sales picked up starting Friday through the weekend.

“We had great weekend sales, better than last year,” said store manager Bob Clay. “I think we had low enough sale prices that were enticing for customers and the fact the sale was extended through the weekend helped too.”

Newcomers Bealls had a line outside the front door Thanksgiving night. Store Manager Linda Barnes said although the store didn’t make it into the $100,000 club, the sales the store did make were still great. She said that both days saw a lot of foot traffic and busy cash register lines.

According to NRF nearly 42 percent of holiday shoppers budget spent online. Holiday shoppers weren’t only in stores on Thanksgiving; they were also online, though it seems early online promotions before the big weekend may have taken some of consumer’s spending power with them.

According to the survey the average person who shopped over the weekend spent $159.55 online, approximately 41.9 percent of their total average budget, down 10.2 percent from $177.67 last year. NRF said most shoppers say they shopped online on Black Friday (46.7 percent), though 36.3 percent say they shopped online on Saturday.

Additionally more than one-quarter (26.2 percent) of holiday shoppers were online on Thanksgiving Day.