Lofty Sales in Aiken on Black Friday
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Lofty Sales in Aiken on Black Friday
Black Friday numbers are in...and for the most part, they're up. The National Retail Federation reports that overall spending was up 7% over last year. But we wondered how all those local, small busin...
Black Friday numbers are in…and for the most part, they’re up. The National Retail Federation reports that overall spending was up 7% over last year. But we wondered how all those local, small businesses did. Count on Joy Howe to find out.
Published: December 1, 2008
Updated: December 1, 2008
Aiken, SC—Tia O’Brien has seen more than a decade of Black Friday sales at her store, The Loft at Laurens in downtown Aiken.
And despite the economic predictions of a slow-down this year, her numbers?...
Tia O’Brien, The Loft at Laurens: “Better, better than last year, our numbers were up over last year’s.“
Black Friday in Aiken seemed to yield quite a bit of green.
Christian Carlisle, Manager/Buyer, Plum Pudding: “Friday was great, the store was packed, you couldn’t have fit anybody else in the store. It was jamming all day.“
Store owners say the long lines at mega-retailers eventually dispersed and early-rising shoppers were pulled to the calmer atmosphere downtown.
Danny Minolfo, Lionel Smith, Ltd: “Well I think what happened with us in the downtown area was, most everyone, they hit the Target, the Wal-mart, those places at 5 a.m. and it seems like they finished there, went and grabbed something to eat, a cup of coffee, and then started coming to the usual places, their specialty stores.“
Carlisle: “Great to see, with this kind of economic forecast we’re looking at.“
O’Brien: “I was surprised, I was hoping to break even with last year’s numbers, or at least come very, very close, so I was very pleased to see we’d done even better than last year.“
Some stores offered discounts….others say downtown itself is enough to draw out-of-towners and Augusta shoppers.
Minolfo: “I love our downtown; it’s a special downtown that Augusta doesn’t have. They have a nice downtown, but it’s not Aiken’s. So they come here, we have the food, we have the specialty pieces, so they come to do their shopping and avoid the big traffic.“
Tia has seen Black Fridays come and go…and even though this one was a little nerve-wracking for retailers…
O’Brien: “We all still have our jobs, and we’re all looking better to a better future, so we’re hoping.“
Another Black Friday down, with the numbers finishing up.
National Retail Federation numbers show that nearly half of Americans went shopping this weekend, and spent $41 billion.
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