Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, November 27, 1993 TAG: 9311270223
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LON WAGNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Laden with packages, the mother and daughter had earned a rest. They sat on a bench inside Roanoke's Valley View Mall and recounted a tale of perseverance and pushiness that only true shoppers could enjoy.
They drove in from Goodview in Bedford County, pulling up to the Hills department store on Hershberger Road at 6:40. Hey, they said, it was buy-one-get-one-free toys- were they supposed to have a nice, leisurely morning at home?
"They started at 7," English explained, "and with such a big crowd, you had to get there. People were just grabbing stuff - seemed like some weren't even looking at what they grabbed."
So with a "Forward Ho! Ho! Ho!," the holiday shopping season officially began Friday, with the usual legions, masses, hordes of people inexorably sucked to the region's shopping centers.
They knew it would be crowded. They suspected that by 11 a.m. a traffic cop would be directing cars on Valley View Boulevard. They thought they might need the four-wheel drive to hop a curb and park in a cornfield.
This was not a day for those easily intimidated by shopping obstacles.
Robert Lyons, a Blacksburg man shopping at the new Pier 1 Imports store in Roanoke, said the hectic mess of day-after-Thanksgiving shopping gave him the "sense of urgency" he needed to begin shopping.
"It really doesn't bother me to get caught up in the crowd or park far, far away," Lyons said. "It's kind of fun."
The Friday after Thanksgiving traditionally is the biggest day of the year for retailers. Long ago the day was dubbed "Black Friday," because its sales put merchants' financial results in the black for the year.
But few shoppers seem to wait for the official start before beginning their holiday shopping season.
"I've already finished it," said Nina Switzer, a Roanoke woman shopping Friday at Pier 1. "I like to get mine done early. I don't like to fight the crowds to do my Christmas shopping."
Nonetheless, Switzer was in the stores Friday, and it is shoppers like her whom merchants hope to entice to buy one or two more gifts with their post-Thanksgiving sales and promotions.
Like their Roanoke Valley counterparts, New River Valley shoppers were ready to go as soon as stores opened at 7, snatching Talking Barneys and NFL team jackets off the racks like white meat from a Thanksgiving turkey.
"I came all the way down here for these jackets," said Tammy Crigger of Pulaski. "I can't believe it."
Hills offered coffee and doughnuts to its shoppers, while J.C. Penney at New River Valley Mall in Christiansburg gave away ornaments with prizes inside. Those promotions, along with 50- to 70-percent-off sales, fueled a busy day that retailers hope bodes well for the season.
"We are cautiously optimistic," said Tom Sheets, general manager of New River Valley Mall. "So far, out of the blocks, we are pleased."
"We're reordering things," said Jane Bonomo, owner of the four-store chain. "So far, so good."
Hills manager Dave Easterly credited the dank weather - combined with great sales - for Friday's big turnout.
"It's Christmastime weather," he said. "The weather's kind of cold and drizzly, and it puts you in the shopping mood."
But not everybody was in the shopping mood. Roanoke County resident Jean Quesenberry delighted only in scorning the whole shopping obsession. Propped on the railing of the second story of Valley View Mall, she waited for her daughter to come out of an adjacent store.
"I'm a `Bah, humbug,' " Quesenberry said, chuckling. "I hate shopping. My daughter dragged me out here against my better judgment."
Staff writer Allison Blake contributed to this story.
by CNB