Black Friday crowds seem smaller at many Southland malls

Black Friday shopping crowds appeared smaller this year at many malls, signaling potential trouble for retailers counting on a merry holiday.

The day after Thanksgiving traditionally has been the biggest selling day of the gift-buying season, and chains peddling Christmas and Hanukkah gifts are closely monitoring how freely consumers spend in the last few months of the year. Consumers have been sending confusing signals for months, with improved incomes and lower gasoline prices failing to register at check-out time.

The rampant buying that often marks the holidays isn’t just idle consumption. Consumer spending accounts for 70% of U.S. economic activity, so gift buying during November and December reverberates throughout the economy.

As in the last few years, earlier opening times on Thanksgiving pulled Black Friday sales forward a day. Many mall operators around the nation reported a slow start to the day but a pickup in shopper traffic later.
------------
FOR THE RECORD:
Thanksgiving shopping: In the Nov. 27 Business section, an article about retailers opening on Thanksgiving and an accompanying photo caption referred to shoppers outside a Best Buy store in Glendale. The store is in the Atwater Village neighborhood of Los Angeles. —
------------

“Retailers are standing on the edge of a cliff,” said Britt Beemer, a retail expert at America’s Research Group who has tracked U.S. holiday sales nationally for more than three decades. “These two days are a reflection that consumers are extremely cautious and are focused on buying necessities.”

About 60% of Thanksgiving shoppers bought door-buster deals and nothing else, and an additional 7% picked up only one or two other items aside from major promotions, Beemer said. That’s a problem for stores, which draw customers in with bargains in the hopes that they will toss pricier products in their baskets.

Toys R Us Chief Executive Dave Brandon said the chain enjoyed “really good traffic” after opening at 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving. Although earlier promotions and the popularity of online shopping meant crowds were smaller, Brandon said many customers still grabbed bargains in stores.

Brandon said Toys R Us will be scrutinizing whether shoppers buy items with higher price tags, such as toys with voice activation or robotic elements.

“We are anxiously seeing how these products move,” he said in an interview. “The key indicators of how this season unfolds is how the consumers are responding to higher price points.”

Retailers can haul in as much as 40% of their annual revenue during the holidays. This year, the retail industry’s anxiety has ratcheted up after retailers, including Macy’s and Nordstrom, reported disappointing third-quarter results.

For economists and merchants, the coming weeks will reveal whether Americans are feeling cheery or ho-hum.

The National Retail Federation, a trade group, forecasts that sales during November and December will climb 3.7% to $630.5 billion, slightly below the 4.1% growth of last year.

Gallup predicts that holiday spending will go up between 5.1% and 5.8%. Respondents told Gallup pollsters that they planned to spend an average of $830 on gifts, up sharply from the $720 they had estimated at the same time last year. It’s also the highest estimate since 2007.

Target Chief Executive Brian Cornell said that the chain is seeing higher traffic at its stores and online than last year, when the merchant was recovering from a massive data breach. Shoppers were particularly interested in clothing, electronics and toys.

Many shoppers were focused on finding the best bargains.

Joey Schlaht, a Whittier electrician, had picked up a Lego demolition set for $71, originally priced at $89, and scored a free gingerbread house-making kit at South Coast Plaza.

“I like to challenge myself and find the ultimate deals,” he said.

Krystle Butler, 30, said she looks for discounts on big items she couldn’t otherwise afford.

At the Target in the Glendale Galleria, the preschool teacher from Lincoln Heights came away with a 55-inch Westinghouse television for $249, marked down from $699.

“It’s the excitement, the deals,” Butler said, patting the massive box perched in her cart.

SIGN UP for the free California Inc. business newsletter >>

But it wasn’t just about shopping.

Demonstrators in Chicago marched Friday in the city’s busy Michigan Avenue shopping district to protest the 2014 fatal shooting of
17-year-old Laquan McDonald by a Chicago police officer.

For the fourth consecutive year, Wal-Mart workers and their supporters demonstrated outside company stores in a dozen cities, including Pico Rivera, to call for a $15 minimum wage and more hours.

Many customers pampered by early discounts and online deals opted to shop from home.

Thanksgiving online sales reached a record total of about $1.7 billion, up 25% from last Thanksgiving, according to Adobe Systems Inc. Sales are expected to jump 14% to $2.7 billion on Black Friday compared
with the same period last year.

San Francisco’s Union Square was a ghost town compared with a normal Friday morning.

Nita Kirby, 49, came with her daughters and a friend across the Bay Bridge to shop at Old Navy and Forever 21. Kirby said they no longer get up at the crack of dawn.

“Now you can get so much stuff online,” the Oakland resident said. “Black Friday has changed so much in the past few years.”

Every year, shoppers crowd the Southland’s many malls to hunt for deals on the day after Thanksgiving. Above, consumers at South Coast Plaza on Black Friday.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

At Macy’s in South Coast Plaza, store manager Sue Graham said that with the rise of online shopping, Black Friday is losing some of its importance as a key prognosticator on the holidays.

“This may not be an indicator of what’s possible,” she said. “The customer now because of tech can shop any time in line or online.”

Despite a more subdued air at some malls, many shoppers said that they were eager to get into the holiday spirit and buy treats for their family.

Matt Smith, 27, was strolling the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica on Friday morning carrying deeply discounted dress shirts and slacks. He expects to spend more on gifts this year.

“I’m feeling pretty good about the economy,” he said. “I think we have finally reached a level of stability that we haven’t had since the recession.”

Ravi Venkata, who was waiting outside the Victoria’s Secret at Westfield Topanga mall for his wife, said he was increasing his holiday budget.

“I spent twice as much this year because I have a better job,” the Canoga Park resident said after hitting sales at H&M, Sephora and Abercrombie & Fitch.

Twitter @ByShanLi

Twitter: @smasunaga

Times staff writers Anh Do, Tracey Lien, David Pierson and Ronald D. White contributed to this report.

MORE FROM BUSINESS

Target and other retailers brace for holiday shopping onslaught

Cybersecurity experts warn about ModPOS malware aimed at retailers

If ‘Black Friday’ no longer works, how about Five-Day Frenzy or Retail Playoffs?