How thousands celebrated ‘Black Friday’ locally
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV)– Black Friday meant large crowds and lots of business for stores all across the Wabash Valley as thousands shifted their sights from Thanksgiving to Christmas.
At Menards, the line started before the building opened at 6 a.m., according to 1st assistant general manager Gary Clark– and the traffic continued for much of the morning.
“Everybody has been steadily coming in, everybody has been great and friendly,” he said. “It’s been a great day just with steady traffic through, the parking lot has been pretty filled up.”
With Thanksgiving officially in the rear-view mirror, it marks the true start of the holiday season for some residents, like Paula Damiano. She said hitting the stores has long been a family tradition– but over the years, things have changed.
“When my mom was still living, it was the tradition. We would be up early the next morning after Thanksgiving, and go out shopping. That wasn’t the case today,” she said. “Today I just was really concerned about shopping early so I can get things in the mail. My family lives at a distance, so you got to get that wrapping and that packing going.”
The prevalence of online shopping has definitely impacted the size of crowds, but Friday, Damiano said it was the busiest she had seen Academy Sports + Outdoors in several years.
“I think today, here might be an exception. I haven’t seen these huge crowds of late the past few years,” she said.
A representative at the store said they had hundreds of online orders– and they still had lines wrapping around displays in store.
At Menard’s, Clark said they had increased staffing throughout the week to prepare– and while stressful, he always enjoys seeing so many people.
“Black Friday is actually probably my favorite day of sales because everyone’s coming in, everyone’s happy to see us, everyone’s friendly and helping everyone else,” he said.
Damiano said it starts the countdown towards Christmas for her family– something she looks forward to every year.
“I think it’s just nice the day after Thanksgiving just to get out,” she said. “It kind of gets you in the spirit for the holidays. So being out, seeing people with smiles on their faces and their carts full kind of lifts your spirit a bit.”
