Friday, November 26, 2010

Black Friday as Busy as Ever on 34th Street

Corner of 34th & 6th at 6am

Black Friday morning demands: Standing in line at the registers at Toys"R"Us at 5:15am, a woman in front of me finally broke and loudly exclaimed "I am not carrying these bags! I need a cigarette and a ginger ale NOW." Well, it's a trying time for shoppers, and every year the stores open a littler earlier, with some throwing open the doors at 12:01am. Soon we'll all just eat our turkey then grab the credit cards and go.

While thinking I'd prefer coffee for the ginger ale and a bagel for the cigarette, I headed to my last stop of the morning, Gap Herald Square. Honestly, I'm not a Black Friday shopper. Every year I head to 34th Street to check out the early morning crowds, but this year I had to do some Baby Herald shopping, too. At Macy's Herald Square (4am) I picked up pink StrideRite boots almost half off, and at Toys"R"Us in Manhattan Mall I got a couple of Imaginarium balls. I stopped by JCPenney (4:45am) for a snowsuit but didn't see the right size and color, so after Manhattan Mall I headed to Gap Herald Square for snow gear and socks. Naive me. By 5:30am the lines were wrapped around the registers for the 50% off everything sale. I had to leave behind the white snowsuit with attached mittens and slippers and the pile of socks because I didn't have it in me to wait in those lines. Amateur!

34th & Broadway, 6am

And the state of shopping on 34th Street this holiday season? Well, the morning kickoff was certainly healthy. The stores weren't just packed early, but also packed full of people carrying multiple bags. JCPenney was handing out tiny Mickey Mouse snow globes at the entrance (enthralled by hers, BabyHerald managed to break it by 1pm), and staffers were everywhere with bags on wheels for shoppers' selections. Victoria's Secret had a line down the block at 6am, and Macy's at 4am was full of shoppers and press crews everywhere. There was even a line at the elevator to get to the upper floors, and that's where I spotted Terry Lundgren, CEO of Macy's, toughing it out with the rest of his staff for the very early morning start. Happy holiday shopping to everyone, and if you were out and about like me, I hope you all got a great deal this rainy Black Friday morning.
Macy's elevator line, 4am

3 comments :

WendyB said...

Always happy to hear people are shopping! Bodes well for us small biz owners.

Anonymous said...

I wonder how fast that truck was going across 34th... eeek!

I... didn't do Black Friday. The closest I got to it was when I went to Oxmoor Mall and saw a sign at the Sears entrance telling people to form one line at that door, then following the labyrinth at Old Navy so I could take something back I bought earlier that week; the store was a bit of a mess, to say the least.

Oh, this was in the afternoon, btw, so if there was any bloodshed, I wasn't there for it.

I'm really enamoured by that truck shot, btw, the eerie glow in the dark sky, the wet street, the speeding truck... oui.

Finally, there's always next year to become a hardcore Black Friday shopper; you'll be waiting in long lines like a champ!

Tricia said...

WendyB - a happy belated Small Business Saturday to you!
Lady C - One must pay attention while crossing any NYC street, but the 34th Street bowtie is well-designed, and during rush hours always has traffic cops!