Black Friday sales entice shoppers

The day after Thanksgiving has been referred to as ?Black Friday? for several years and has become associated with shopping owing to the discounts that many businesses offer on the day. Several businesses in Washington opened their doors early and even had extra staff on hand to accommodate the wave of shoppers that they expected to pour through their doors.

Stacey Chenoweth is a sales representative at Archer Appliance and Electronics and said that the store had additional part-time help in the store Friday. She said that Friday morning was a busy time, and that the whole week has been noticeably busier than average. She said that cellular phone service providers started some of their deals on Monday.

?Today has been really busy,? she said. ?I think it?s because people are off work and they want to do their Christmas shopping now. We?ve had a lot of customers call in to ask, ?What are your deals going to be on Friday?? And we?re like, ?They?ve started already.??

Chenoweth said that Archer?s opened early for Black Friday last year but decided to open at the regular time this year.

?We opened at least an hour earlier last year,? she said.

Chenoweth said that her customers seemed especially interested in purchasing cell phones.

?A lot of them are Christmas gifts, and people are upgrading because there are deals now that aren?t there all year long,? she said.

Max Totemeier of Columbus Junction was at Archer?s Friday morning to purchase a cell phone. He said he normally doesn?t shop on Black Friday.

?I?m here mainly because my cell phone is broken and I need a new one,? he said.

Craig Jones, one of the owners of Ace-N-More, said that business was going very well at his store.

?Drills, tools, clothes and toys are doing well,? he said. ?We opened at 6 a.m. today instead of 7:30 a.m. That helped keep the traffic flow from bunching up at the door. In years prior, we had people waiting, so we?re trying to help them out. There were still about 10 people waiting for us to open today.?

Jones said that a number of his customers were people who had already shopped at stores in Iowa City that morning.

?People may be going to Iowa City to get a special thing but they are coming back to shop local,? he said.

Buzz McCoy, the day manager of the store, said that sawhorses and toolkits were moving fast.

?The first year we did a Black Friday sale was unreal,? he said. ?We weren?t prepared for all the people who came.?

Audrey Goldsmith said she likes to visit stores on Black Friday to get ideas for gifts for her relatives.

?I like to look around but sometimes I end up giving them money because I don?t know their sizes,? she said. ?I have one great-grandson and I normally get him a savings bond and then something small to go with it. He?s got too many clothes and toys now.?

Goldsmith said she went shopping Friday mostly to look for gifts for her dog, George, a Bichon Frise.

?Usually, I get him a toy and then my sons will buy him treats for Christmas,? she said. ?This year, I bought him a blanket and a little ball.?

Goldsmith said that she was also thinking of buying a television for herself later in the day.

?I?m going to need a TV, and I thought that if I could get a discount, that?d be nice,? she said.

Angie Staley, who manages the Edge2 in Washington, said that she opened the store earlier than normal, at 6 a.m.

?We had one shopper right at 6 o?clock because she had to go out of town later,? Staley said. ?I think most people are dribbling in from Iowa City. Some people who have come in said they were in line at 3:30 a.m. I think they stayed up all night. I?m hoping they take a nap and then shop here.?

Staley said that Iowa Hawkeye and Washington Demon T-shirts were selling like hot cakes.

Lisa Hennigan lives in North Carolina and traveled to Washington to celebrate Thanksgiving with her in-laws.

?We?re here because we need some Iowa stuff,? she said. ?This is the second time I?ve been here this morning. My other kids got out of bed and wanted an Iowa shirt to take home.?