Coming soon to a shopping mall near you, the mad rush for Black Friday deals. Some Missourians will be waking up early and taking advantage of numerous deals, including the Columbia Mall in mid-Missouri. General Manager Rusty Strodtman told Missourinet that Friday is going to be a very busy day.
“I think most retailers are anticipating a pretty busy season,” he said. “You know, it’s a shorter calendar. There’s less days this year between Thanksgiving and Christmas than last year, for example. So, I don’t know that that’s people’s reasoning for being out earlier, but it does seem like they’re shopping heavier than last year.”
Strodtman said that there will be extended hours on Black Friday and Small Business Saturday before returning to normal on Cyber Monday.
“Black Friday is a very busy day, but the two Saturdays before Christmas are typically the best days for business,” said Strodtman. “That’s the traditionally the highest volume of sales and that last Saturday before Christmas really depends on how close it is to Christmas.”
The National Retail Federation expects consumer spending to reach a record high this shopping season – $902 per person for gifts, food, decorations, and other seasonal items.
But how does in-store shopping compare to online? Strodtman said that COVID-19 has changed holiday shopping habits. He explained that malls like his directly benefit from online shopping from Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
“So COVID taught the retailers that they can use their stores, their brick-and-mortar like mini-distribution centers,” he said. “So, every afternoon, Monday through Friday, you’ll see these carts going through the mall. They’re going through every single, a lot of the stores, and they’re going in and getting packages from that day. They’re shipping those packages out. Those are, you know, online orders being shipped out.”
Columbia Mall opens at 9:00 a.m. Friday and closes at 9:00 p.m.
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