Area businesses see increase in Black Friday shoppers

On the biggest shopping day of the year, many shops and boutiques in Onslow County saw a small surge of Christmas shoppers, many of whom opted to bypass big-box door busters and retail chains.

 In downtown Swansboro, parking was scarce as many spent Friday leisurely browsing gift shops, crafts and antiques. Some stores advertised Black Friday sales in the windows, but others simply relied on loyal clientele and nice weather to bring in business.

“I just don’t run specials,” Maxine Russell, owner of Russell’s Old Tyme Shop, said.

Russell, who hand-paints most of the gift merchandise she sells, said she noticed an uptick in the day’s business, but attributed it primarily to the day off.

Russell doesn’t advertise, either, she said.

“Most of the time it’s word of mouth and that people have come here for 30 years, and just keep coming back,” she said.

Tracie McGee, of Greenville, browsed inside the small store. While McGee said she used to shop the specials after Thanksgiving with her grandmother when she was little, she hadn’t done that in years.

“I try to avoid those now, especially on Black Friday,” she said.

Sandy Morningstar, an employee at Noah’s Ark gift shop in Swansboro, said she had noticed a difference in the quality of that day’s shopping, rather than the quantity.

“We have probably the same amount of people, maybe not so impulsive buying but still spending money,” Morningstar said. Shoppers, she said, were more likely this year to buy Christmas gifts or ornaments than items for themselves.

And not all small businesses saw Black Friday windfalls.

Sharon Doss, merchandise manager for Johnson Drug Company in downtown Jacksonville, said business had been slower than usual, even with a big special that took 50 percent off all gift items.

“This year has been very, very slow compared to previous Black Fridays,” Doss said. “I think people are holding on to their money.”

The few people inside the store as she spoke were in the pharmacy section, while the gift aisles stood empty.

But the staff of Southern Comforts Gifts on Gum Branch Road were pleasantly surprised at the day’s turnout. When the store’s owner, Judy Pitchford, spoke with The Daily News on Wednesday, she said she expected business to be poor, since she hadn’t planned any specials or door busters.

But Peggy Del Colliano, a shop employee, said Friday that crowds had been steady and that the store filled up earlier than expected.

“Usually people come to our kind of a store after they’ve already hit the malls and things,” she said. “They came to our store a bit earlier this year. Maybe they were a little disappointed with the retail shuffle.”

Del Colliano said many customers had told her that they chose to skip the big specials altogether, making Southern Comfort their destination.

“Our customers, the people who come in here, they’re more like family,” she said. “We have two big overstuffed chairs and they just come in to talk some country with us.”

Evan Atkins, of Lexington, Va., who browsed boutiques with her husband, Buddy Atkins, said it was no accident that they were absent from the sales at larger chain stores.

“We would never be at any of those stores (on Black Friday),” she said. “It would be too crazy.”

 Contact Hope Hodge at 910-219-8453 or hhodge@freedomenc.com.