Armed with Coupons, Shoppers Swarm Silverdale

By Rachel Pritchett
rpritchett@kitsapsun.com
SILVERDALE
Someone could have made a pile of money selling parking spaces in Silverdale on Black Friday, as throngs descended on Kitsap County’s retail hub to get to deals first.
The recession was hardly evident at the newly revamped JC Penney store at Kitsap Mall as early shoppers queued up 10 deep at a check-out counter. The newly revamped department store flung open its doors at 4 a.m. for its Doorbuster specials. Nearby Kohl’s was on the same timeline.
“The mall was packed by 5 o’clock this morning,” said mall Marketing Manager Yvonne Tomascak.
Shoppers camped overnight Thursday in lawn chairs and sleeping bags at big-box stores like Silverdale’s Best Buy to take advantage of killer deals on electronics, software and appliances.
The National Retail Federation predicts the season will be a touch merrier for long-struggling retailers. Some 134 Americans were expected to take advantage of deeply discounted Black Friday specials, up from 128 million last year.
Some 66 percent of shoppers were expected to hit department and big-box stores. About 41 percent were expected at electronics stores.
Now in sync with how Black Friday works, still-cautious consumers are carefully plotting every stop.
“Shoppers are prepared. They come in with their coupons, and the are prepared for what they’re looking for,” Tomascak said.
Deals are continuing through the weekend at many locations, and another spike in buying activity is expected to come on Cyber Monday. Then, 87 percent of the nation’s retailers are expected to have online promotions and incentives like discounts, free shipping and gifts.
Like Black Friday, Cyber Monday gets bigger every year. The term was coined in 2005 after analysts discovered that, for some reason, the Monday following Black Friday was when consumers turned to online holiday buying.
On Monday, 87 percent of the nation’s retailers will offer online promotions, up from 84 percent last year, says the NRF.