Shoppers crowd retailers as Black Friday begins

NEW HANOVER COUNTY (WWAY) — Black Friday started early this year, with some stores opening as soon as 5 am. 

Crowds packed Mayfaire Town Center, where shoppers hunted for major discounts and some, like Emily Ogilvie, even scored free gifts with their purchases.  

“Most stores have close to 40 to 50 percent off, which has been amazing and such a blessing for shopping. I’ve been to Aerie so far and got even a free blanket,” said Ogilvie. 

Lines formed outside stores like Palmetto Moon, Ulta, and Belk as early-hour deals drew in customers. 

Paige Coniglio, marketing director for Mayfaire Town Center, says this year’s turnout was expected to outpace previous seasons. 

“The National Retail Federation is reporting a record number of 186 million people planning to shop Thanksgiving weekend, so that’s over a 3 million increase over last year,” said Coniglio. 

It wasn’t just clothing retailers seeing traffic. 

Academy Sports and Outdoors store manager, Lee Danley, also reported a strong interest in popular items this year. 

“We’ve already seen a lot of activity around our hunting categories, games and outdoor toys and fun, trampolines, ride-ons, bikes, all of those wheeled goods. A lot of categories that we normally do very well with, we do exceptionally well with during the holidays,” said Danley. 

Many stores will keep extended hours through the weekend to give shoppers more time to take advantage of Black Friday deals. 

Academy will be open until 11 pm for Black Friday, and 8 am to 11 pm on Saturday. 

Mayfaire Town Center will be open 8 am to 9 pm on Black Friday; 10 am to 8 pm on Saturday, and 12 to 6 pm on Sunday.