Black Friday

Whether you were looking for a good deal on electronics or browsing with friends, it was hard not to be in the Christmas spirit Friday morning in St. Tammany Parish.

All of the popular Christmas tunes were being piped in via speakers, all of the stores were decked out in holiday spender and shoppers were bustling about, their arms full of holiday gifts.

Sisters Leigh Moore, Teri Everly and Diona Anderson converge every year for Black Friday shopping, but they said Friday morning the event is more of a social outing for the ladies than a bargain hunting adventure.

“Our reason is more for visiting than for shopping,” Everly said, adding that the day after Thanksgiving is the only day all three of them can get away together without their children and their husbands.

She said shopping together also helps to buy for each other’s families.

Anderson headed out before her two sisters, who met her at the mall for breakfast at 7 a.m.

Anderson headed out to Walmart at 5:30 a.m. but said there were way too many people and the lines were too long for her to get any shopping done there.

Jennifer Messenger, who at 8 a.m. was waiting outside the Game Stop on Northshore Boulevard waiting for her turn to shop for video games, said she braved Walmart at midnight and still spent eight hours waiting in line.

However, she said, the deals she got on electronics was worth fighting the early morning crowds.

She snagged her a 32-inch television for $248 and a laptop for $199.

She said this was her first time heading out for early Black Friday shopping, but could not pass up the deals stores were offering.

Game Stop opened at 6 a.m., but after advertising deals on most gaming systems, store employees were inundated with more customers then they could fit in the small store.

Workers were trying to keep only 15 people in the store at a time and the line waiting outside was steady, with people coming to take advantage of the companies “buy a system get three games free” offer.

Sharon Satter was there to pick up a Play station for her son. She said it was the free game deal that brought her to Game Stop.

“Free is good,” she said, adding that she had already been to Walmart that morning and would make a stop at Shoe Carnival to get boots for her daughter before heading home.

Holly Perrault was also waiting to get into Game Stop at 8 a.m. She had spent most of her morning at Toys R Us, taking advantage of the deals that store was offering.

She said she arrived at Toys R Us at midnight and waiting in line for one hour. After that she spent another three hours in the store shopping and waiting to check out.

“But it was worth it for me because I got the night vision goggles my son has been wanting for three years,” Perrault said, adding that she was able to pick up some toys while there for other people on her list.

Things were much calmer at Northshore Square.

Kathleen Bryant, Selena Brownlee and Janice Dean were enjoying their time together while picking up some deals of their own.

The ladies got up at 3 and arrived at the mall at 4 p.m.

They found some good deals at JC Penney for lingerie and boots and said they found some more good deals on clothes at Burlington Coat Factory, which opened at 5 a.m. Friday.

Brownlee was in from Georgia visiting family and admitted if she had been back home she would not have came out for Black Friday. However, she said, she could not pass up the opportunity to spend the day shopping with her sisters and sister-in-law.

Koni Maat and her sons’ girlfriends, Stephanie Mapolitano and Mara Leonard, decided over Thanksgiving dinner that it would be fun to going shopping together on Friday.

The three were at the mall at 2:30 a.m., waiting in line for JC Penney open its doors.

Maat said by the time the store opened at 4 a.m., the line had reached around the corner of the building.

At 7:30 a.m. the line for the check out at JC Penney was 30 or so customers long.

Maat said her and the girls found some good deals at both Victoria Secret and Bath and Bodyworks.

Jesse Lee, supervisor at Victoria Secret, said the crowds were bigger, and the store was much busier than last year.

She said last year, where she lifted the gate to open the store there were only about 30 people waiting to get in. Friday morning, she said, there were at least 100 people waiting for her to open the store.

Suzette Lewis, an employee at Dillards, where the crowds were not as large, said her store also did not open until the mall officially opened at 7 a.m.

She said there were not people waiting at their door but that as soon as the doors opened, people were in the store looking for deals.

Northshore Square General Manager Donna Caillouet said the mall did not officially open and customer service was not operating until 7 a.m., but all of the individual stores were allowed to open as early as they wanted and security was provided.

She said people were camping outside of both Sears and JC Penney waiting for those stores to open and she said the crowds had really picked up and the mall was packed by lunch time. She said the crowds, while not as large as in the past when a KB Toys was located in the mall, were still large but very well behaved.

Caillouet said the mall ups the security for the holiday season and she herself spent most of the morning walking the mall but said there were not any problems Friday morning.

Northshore Square serves as substation for Slidell Police Department during the holidays, which gives the mall and surrounding stores added security. Northshore Square also supplements its regular security with added police details during heavy shopping days like lack Friday.

By 8 a.m. Friday, hardly an empty parking space was available in many popular shopping areas on the west side of the parish.

At Belk Department store, Manager Cloviece Sanders said the store was crowded at the 4 a.m. opening. It was clear by 8 a.m. that many of the specials were sold out asa crowds filled the store and lines formed at the registers.

The same was true for many of the stores at Covington Stirling Shopping Center south of U. S. Interstate 12 and east of Louisiana Highway 21 as parking became more scarce. By Noon, many of the popular items, even those not at “doorbuster” or “early bird” deep discounts were flying off shelves.

Consumers reported lengthy lines at some stores, but added that they were well-organized with every available register open for checkout.

Popular items this year included electronics of all types, including computers, TVs and games, and more practical items of clothing such as coats, sweaters and shoes.

Motorists on La. 21 were surprised to have all four lanes open to traffic north of I-12. The addition exit and entrance ramps to I-12 that officially opened earlier this month have also aided in traffic control.