Black Friday shopping ramps up from slower start at St. Louis-area retailers
Around noon at The Foundry in St. Louis, Deveion Cannon walked out of Sanctioned sneakers store with a pair of mid-rise Nike Air Force Dunks he bought for $75, down from normal retail prices at $150 or more. It was part of a sale offering a limited supply of sneakers for $100 or less that had begun Thursday night.
“I had my eyes on these for a while,” said Cannon, of St. Louis. “I saw the deal on Instagram this morning and so I just rolled out of bed out and came out.”
Dozens of other shoppers filtered in and out of The Foundry’s Food Hall and entertainment venues and into the several boutique stores lining the complex on Black Friday. At local shopping malls, like the Galleria, crowds were slow to build but stores were humming by midday. The pace reflected an established trend away from camping overnight to be the first in the door on the annual shopping day door to a much more relaxed affair, with many shoppers opting to buy online instead or take advantage of extended Black Friday deals offered over days, if not weeks.
At The Foundry, Sam and Harry Lenzen walked out of Procure, a consignment store selling apparel and goods from women-owned businesses, with a bag full of clothes for their one-year old daughter, and soap and candles for Sam, gifts she bought to treat herself.
The couple, from Des Peres, we’re on a rare “Date Day” at The Foundry since they had grandparents in town to babysit, and they didn’t intend on shopping. But they felt good about buying local, Sam Lenzen said.
“You’re giving back to St. Louis in a way, buying local,” she said. It’s better than going to a big-box store.”
The candles and soap the Lenzens bought were part of a one-day 20% discount for items by Black-owned businesses.
The percentage came out of Procure’s commission, rather than the maker’ share, as a part of the store’s goal to support local small businesses, said Nina Gears, director of inventory and e-commerce.
More than a dozen shoppers browsed the small store around noon. Gears said it was more crowded than usual.
“It feels like a Saturday,” she said. “I think people are tired of big-box stores, and they want more meaningful shopping experiences.”
Chanel Ligies walked into work at The Urban Outfitters in the Galleria Mall around 8:30 a.m. with two Starbucks coffees in hand — one for her, one for a coworker — expecting to see a much larger crowd.
“It looks like a pretty normal day,” said Ligies, 20, who has worked at the store for six months.
Ligies said she anticipated shoppers would wander in over the day to Urban, which was offering a buy one, get one 50% off any item storewide.
Shella Lathan and Jessie Cannamore lined up Macy’s at 6 a.m. to start shopping for their “Besties” holiday gift spree, a tradition since 2016 in which they buy gifts for each other and two other good friends, after planning out a wish list long in advance.
“I guess the online shopping takes away from the crowds,” said Lathan, 54, of north St. Louis County.
“But I like to see my products and talk to the sales people before I buy anything.”
She turned her back to Cannamore to show a reporter a set of gifts for her, each bought at a hefty discount. They were headed to Bath and Body Works and then Footlocker next, Lathan said.
Though she lined up early, Lathan said the ability to shop online and on days other than Friday were “a good thing.”
“You can spend more time with family,” she said. “Or sleep in a little later.”
Bryson Neff and Max Windlan, both 18, drove in from their hometowns of Decatur and Mt. Zion, Illinois, with a group of friends. But they weren’t intent on shopping at the Galleria.
“It’s just something to do while we hang out,” said Windlan. The group planned to see The Gateway Arch after leaving the mall and then eat at Gus’s Fried Chicken in Maplewood.
The mall offered plenty of options in case there was something they wanted to buy, or an enticing offer that would catch their eye, Bryson said. But they do most of their shopping online, and with Amazon in particular.
“It’s just so convenient, you can do it right there on your phone,” Bryson said.
“It might be the death of malls,” Windham added.
Meanwhile Friday morning, traffic into the mall and the nearby Brentwood Promenade plaza was slowed to a crawl by a crowd of protesters demanding American leaders support a ceasefire in The Gaza Strip.
The group met at the Promenade and then marched down Brentwood Boulevard, with signs and chants including “Free Palestine” and “while you’re shopping bombs are dropping.”
Editor's note: This story was updated at 11:07 a.m., to correct the protestors' chants, and again at 1:26 p.m.
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