The Bouquet Canyon Plaza located near the intersection of Newhall Ranch Road and Bouquet Canyon Road in Saugus can be notorious for traffic congestion with the many businesses that bring in foot traffic.
On Friday morning after Thanksgiving, traffic was typically heavy, but many of the shoppers were loading up large plasma screen TVs onto the trunks of their cars or walking out with more electronics than usual as part of the cultural phenomenon of Black Friday shopping.
Inside Best Buy, people of all ages were looking at a variety of items ranging from gaming consoles to cooking appliances. A few of them walked off with new purchases as gifts for a loved one, or themselves, kicking off the holiday shopping season.
Gracie Santana and her husband Sergio Diaz walked out of the electronic store with new gifts for themselves including a JBL Bluetooth speaker and an air fryer, which Diaz carried over his head, back to the car.
“The JBL [speaker] is for his work,” Santana said, referring to her husband. “And the air fryer is for me, just to cook practical stuff, [and] for my teens,” so they could cook what they’d like, she said.
Another shopper, who asked not to be identified to avoid spoiling a surprise gift, was on dad duties and walked out with a brand-new Sony PlayStation 5 gaming console.
“It’s a Christmas gift for my son. He’s been asking for it,” he said, adding that he beat the lines this year by ordering the console online ahead of time and just came by to pick up his order.
With the new age of technology and a post-pandemic society, Black Friday shopping has shifted in recent years.
Although many people do their shopping online from the comfort of their own home, and avoid the large crowds, many local shoppers still participate in the annual event.
According to the Associated Press, “the annual sales event no longer creates the midnight mall crowds or doorbuster mayhem in large part due to the ease of online shopping.”
