Black Friday better than last year, at least for practical products

Black Friday in Fernandina Beach Needs More

By Publisher on November 28, 2009

Black Friday Insanity?

Early reports on Black Friday sales indicate that most people are buying practical items, rather than typical gift giving. TV’s, GPS systems and deeply discounted kitchenware or clothing seem to have gotten a lift over last year. But if Black Friday anywhere else in specialty and gift stores across the nation was similar to the amount of people I saw early Friday morning on Centre Street in Fernandina Beach, than the name Black Friday has just turned into an ominous sign. Was the name originally synonymous to retailers getting on the positive side of the balance sheet for the year, with this biggest shopping day of the year, it just might have changed its meaning to black is dreadful, awful, devastating.

Even with the annual Pajama Party tradition here on Amelia Island, there were very few people venturing out in the streets when the sun said good morning to the coldest temperature so far this season. The Pajama tradition was looked upon as strange by many and it took until around noon time before downtown became busy and the event was from 8:00 to 11:00 AM. Being local, we were mostly asked where people could get a quick (inexpensive) lunch. Food is always in demand obviously and that’s where most of the money was spent in our observation.

As for premature Black Friday optimism in general, there is no doubt that kitchen ware that usually sells for $100 offered at $19.99 will find takers, or a GPS that sells for $299 and was now offered at $79 in the big chain retail stores will have people lined up. It does not mean however that people will come out early on Black Friday for a 20% discount in Downtown Fernandina Beach. A phenomenon such as Black Friday will do very little for Centre Street retailers unless maybe they expanded into a street market with many other attractions.

A noted trend this year across the nation was that people paid with cash and debit cards, indicating that they are not willing to go deeply into debt anymore. But also pointing at the fact that it may be hard to keep customers coming to stores between now and Christmas Eve.

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Name

Were you really in downtown Fernandina on Friday morning? Did you even talk to the merchants? I observed a great deal of shoppers during the PJ Party and your comments make it seem that it was like a ghost town. I thought it was very well attended, with lots of shopping bags being carried in evidence of purchases being made, plus many were repeat PJ Party goers! While the tally of actual sales is still unknown, you do the good businesses of the Centre Street business district a disservice by publishing such a grim report. It's easy to just make suggestions as to what "might be done" to increase sales. It is sad to think that in order to get people to shop downtown Fernandina Beach, we have to come up with gimmicks. These are your neighbors that own the businesses, not some corporation in another state! I challenge your readers to buy at least three presents from businesses in downtown Fernandina Beach this holiday season. Everyone loves the historic area, now show it with your dollars of support!

Publisher

I like your closing ideas and absolutely agree with them, however this does not alter my observation that it was in my opinion quiet in comparison to last year - at least for the time frame from 10 am - 2:30pm when I was downtown. If you thought it was very well attended than maybe your expectation level is set quite a bit lower than my conviction level that the Historic District can do much better. A Christmas street fair would be just one suggestion. And NO it's not easy to just make suggestions. I've organized these type of events and bigger for 35 years. I know what scope and interaction is needed, but I also know that FB has plenty of people with the talent to pull it off. I have seen Sandy Price and Susan Hurley in action. Your introduction of the word "gimmick" to the dialogue is smehow cheapening the effort. I'm not talking about a cheap and fake event, I'm talking about an event that can ultimately lead to a month long Christmas display/market, like historic districts in European cities do, attracting tens to hundreds of thousands of visitors. Downtown Fernandina Beach has a regional attraction of at least 30 miles or more in diameter. That's a lot more people than I saw on Black Friday morning in the historic District. I'm happy for you if you saw enough shopping bags. Personally I wasn't impressed even though I didn't imply it was a ghost town.
And in closing, the challenge to "my" readers to buy downtown is a bit ludicrous, as "my" readers are educated people with a mind of their own. They don't need to be prodded by this type of challenge. Downtown needs to attract and welcome them with excitement and choice. That's the reality of the world we live in. I wish you Peace for the Season

tommylee

p.s. Here's a report worthwhile analyzing: eBay's Paypal had a record number of transactions on Black Friday. something that SearchAmelia has been constantly hammering on that volumes may not necessarily decline but shopping has taken another trend that should not be ignored: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2356389,00...

Don't get us wrong, we support the local community wholeheartedly in every way possible and as such suggestions that additional attractions are almost a necessity to get people downtown are only to further enhance the shopping downtown experience, but being a "historic district" may not be enough of a pull anymore.

tommylee

To be honest, 5 SearchAmelia publishers, editors and tech staff were downtown and we all witnessed, video taped, spoke with and came to the same conclusion as many merchants and shoppers... it was slow. And we were present from 10:15 am until 2:45 pm. There where a lot of cars driving on Centre street but parking in all side streets was a piece of cake, so I guess that people were "drive-by window shopping".

ameliadude

I was downtown from 10 am untill 1:30 which is long after the original pajama party was supposed to last, and have to say that there was not a lot of people there. There were a lot of people dressed in thier pajamas to take advantage of the PJ contest but I di not see an abundance of packages being carried around. I spoke with quite a few of the merchants and they all said that it was a slower morning then usual. Many thought the cold weather was a part of the problem. When it comes to gimmicks- your challenge to have Searchamelias readers buy 3 gifts from downtown merchants is a gimmick in itself. Maybe thats truly what all small businesses need- A Gimmick. I myself bought two presents downtown friday and plan to purchase more as the season progresses but the idea of a street festival at the same time as the PJ party seems like a grand idea to me.

helenotoole

Mom and Pop stores along our main streets just can't compete with the huge discounts of the big box stores. I've always noticed people leaving the smaller stores on black Friday, just to snag one of those big discounted tickets. Small towns like Fernandina will have to come up with something more then the usual ten to twenty percent off in order to compete with big box incentives.