Thousands of Santa Clarita residents descended upon shopping centers and storefronts to rake in the post-Thanksgiving deals available to them through Black Friday.
Whether it was in the annually decorated, packed Westfield Valencia Town Center or camping out as temperatures dropped to the mid-30s overnight in front of Best Buy, people stayed true to their family holiday tradition.
The National Retail Federation, a national organization that tracks consumer retail habits, said that 114.6 million Americans were expected to hit stores on Black Friday, marking the midpoint in a five-day shopping spree featuring 165.3 million shoppers around the country.
So great were the demands at some stores in past years that they have walked away from the traditional “door-buster” model. In fact, Best Buy located on Bouquet Canyon Road has adopted a system in which people are lined up outside early in the morning, and based on whatever “hot-ticket” item they want, such as a 58-inch Toshiba television for $199, they receive a ticket that they can then exchange inside of the store once doors open.
“It’s a way for customers to rest assured that they’ll get those items they wait in line for,” said Biana Jones, a spokeswoman for Best Buy. “Basically, we hand out tickets to avoid the mad rush.”
Annette and Matt Troyer said Black Friday shopping has been a tradition for them for the last five or six years, and while they were not some of those who waited in line to get a ticket, they still went to Best Buy early Friday morning to see what deals they could snag.
“We’re picking out some gifts for Christmas for our kids,” said Matt. “I would’ve bought them normally but a lot stuff we wait for … for this day.”
“To get the best deal,” Annette said.
As people walked into Best Buy with printouts of price sheets or staring down at their phones to see what lists they had compiled in the days leading up to Black Friday, others walked out with large TV’s and appliances they called “a steal” on one of the biggest shopping days of the year.
The Celedon family, who were spotted outside of Best Buy early Friday morning, said they were out in search of electronics they could buy to put in the home they recently purchased.
“We’ve seen the one at Costco and now we’ve seen it here and we need it kind of visual to see the difference,” Thomas Celedon.
Some families in Valencia on Friday said they were doing a hybrid version of Black Friday: partly online and partly in person.
“We usually go a little bit every year,” said Laurie Rodrigo, who was shopping at Lululemon with her daughters Jaymi and Savannah. “I think we did more online than stores … but we ended up with a few bags.”
Others at the Westfield Valencia Town Center walked through a variety of stores, not only looking at electronics, but also clothes. Some were there for more than the savings, as well.
“So far so good,” said Stacy Devine, who said she’s been shopping for Black Friday deals for the last 40 years. Underneath her arms, and her daughter-in-law Danielle’s arms, were close to 10 bags of purchased items.
Danielle said they were heading back to their car to put the bags down before heading back in for more shopping.
“You save money, but I love spending time with my mother-in-law,” said Danielle. “This is our girl time.”
