‘They think we’re crazy:’ Charlotte shoppers say Black Friday tradition worth it

Rain didn’t stop some Charlotte shoppers from heading out early for the official holiday shopping launch on Black Friday.

Despite economic pressures, Charlotte shoppers plan to spend $1,517, 4% more than the national average, according to a Deloitte survey.

Charlotte holiday shoppers will spend more than most, survey finds. Are you one of them?

Just after 6 a.m., Best Buy was bustling with customers at RiverGate shopping center in Steele Creek. The store opened at 5 a.m. with a line outside of about 45 people, General Manager Charles Fox told The Charlotte Observer.

In his 13 years with Best Best, Fox said although Black Friday has “definitely changed” over the years from the enormous crowds that rushed stores for doorbusters and flash sales, foot traffic was busier than last year.

The hottest items shoppers were searching for, Fox said, were big televisions and PlayStation 5 consoles, which were already out of stock by 6:30 a.m.

He anticipated seeing even more shoppers after daylight.

“We have some new sales, but they are also the same as Wednesday,” he said. Black Friday sales will end Tuesday.

At 6:40 a.m. over at Kohl’s off Walker Branch Road, the department store also opened at 5 a.m. Cousins Brandy Dandridge and Jessica Baker woke up before 4 a.m. to make the about hour-long trek from Kershaw, S.C., to shop in Steele Creek.

“They think we’re crazy,” Dandridge said, referring to what family thinks of the cousins’ six-year Black Friday shopping tradition. “You never know what deals you might find for stocking stuffers.”

The duo planned to shop at Kohl’s for clothing deals, then head to Target and a few other stores.

“I like to get it all done early before the crowds come,” Baker said.

It’s worth getting up in the wee morning hours, they said, to get home by lunch.

“It’s the thrill of the shop, you just don’t know what you need until you see it,” Dandridge said.

By 7:30 a.m., at Charlotte Premium Outlets about five miles away, it was hard to find a parking spot as people carried away sacks as large as Santa’s with name brands like Ralph Lauren and Bath & Body Works. Long lines 40 and more deep were outside designer stores like Michael Kors, Kate Spade and Coach, as well as Under Armour, Banana Republic and Old Navy.

One of the longest lines was Nike stretching into a nearby hallway with about 80 people.

CT Crosby of Shelby, who stood at about halfway in the line, said he didn’t mind the wait. He’d only been waiting for about 10 minutes.

“It doesn’t matter,” he said. “It’s Black Friday.”

Crosby said he didn’t want to miss out on the deals and the possibility of items running out of stock, especially to fill his two daughters’ wish lists.

Having already started shopping online earlier this month, he expected to complete his Christmas shopping list on Friday after stops at Carolina Place and SouthPark malls.

At about 7:50 a.m., mother and daughter Jen and Lauren Metsker of Concord had already bailed on waiting in the Old Navy Outlet line to make a return, they said. Standing in line at Coach, about 40 people long, the Metskers said it was a lot shorter than it had been at 6:30 a.m.

“To wait in line, you have to really want something,” mom Jen said. Even after the lines outside, there are lines to the registers inside stores, she said.

“I wasn’t expecting it to be this busy,” said Lauren, 17.

The Metskers have a tradition of shopping together on Black Friday for the experience and bonding time.

“It’s a different shopping day than all of the shopping days,” Jen Metsker said.

At 8:15 a.m., the Kate Spade New York line dotted with people holding umbrellas had gotten so long, an outlet security officer politely asked people waiting to make a curve in the plaza to not block other store entryways.

Mom and daughter Teresa and Hannah Goldinger of York and friend Mary Ellen Webb of Rock Hill had gotten to the outlets at 6:15 a.m. Holding Vera Bradley bags, they’d also been to Michael Kors, Coach and now, admitted, they were waiting at Kate Spade to shop for themselves.

Even though Teresa Goldinger said the retailers are offering the same prices online as in the stores, they wanted to get out, especially after skipping Black Friday shopping the past two years because of COVID.

“We normally just shop local,” Teresa Goldinger said, donning the same Christmas sweatshirt as her 24-year-old daughter. “It’s just something we do every year because you just might miss something.”

Even though Goldinger said she started checking off gifts on her list around Halloween, she’ll be shopping until Christmas Eve.

But Black Friday is their special shopping day shared over the past decade.

“We just like to see the chaos, but it’s calm this year, Hannah Goldinger said.

Webb said going to the stores is still best.

“There’s always something you find you need,” she said.

Tomorrow, they’ll continue another annual shopping tradition by going to Yorkville Marketplace in downtown York for Small Business Saturday.