While more and more people are choosing to shop online after indulging in a Thanksgiving feast, early surveys predict that roughly 116 million people across the nation will brave Black Friday crowds this week in search of can’t-miss deals on one of the busiest shopping days of the year.
At the Best Buy at Hamilton Place off Gunbarrel Road – an area sure to be swarming with shoppers over the next few days – customers will be given a color-coded map when they walk in the store that leads them to the best deals. With Toys R Us going out of business earlier this year, Best Buy general manager Nate Roach said the company is taking advantage and has shelves stocked with toys from Star Wars Legos and Nerf guns to Barbie houses and My Little Pony sets.
“We started getting this stuff here about a month and a half ago,” Roach said Tuesday, pointing at a box of Hot Wheels cars. “It was a huge market left untapped.”
The National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics surveyed more than 7,500 consumers this year and estimates 164 million people will plan to shop Thanksgiving day through Cyber Monday. According to the survey, 21 percent will plan to shop on Thanksgiving day, 71 percent on Black Friday, 41 percent on Small Business Saturday, 20 percent on Sunday and, finally, 46 percent of shoppers will take advantage of online deals for Cyber Monday.
Big Lots is planning to open as early as 7 a.m. on Thanksgiving, but others, including TJ Maxx, Marshalls, HomeGoods, Office Depot/Max and Staples, will stay closed for the holiday.