KAILUA-KONA — Black Friday isn’t really Black Friday. Not anymore.
Sure, come first light following our national day of thanks, the baristas on their to way to open Kona’s coffee shops or the early morning joggers burning off that extra spoonful of stuffing are liable to see lines of drowsy, turkey-logged shoppers stretching around the corners of West Hawaii’s big box stores.
And at the stroke of 6 a.m., when the starting bell rings and the department store doors swing open, those discount dealers will spring into action on a day that remains America’s greatest living monument to consumerism.
“The Super Bowl of Retail,” Walmart spokesperson Debbie Shima called it.
With more than 240 inserts inside today’s paper advertising blockbuster Black Friday bargains, her characterization would appear apt.
But retail’s championship game has changed in recent years.
For starters, Black Friday’s ratings are down, despite overall spending trending upward. According to the National Retail Federation, American shoppers will spend around $680 billion over the holidays, an uptick of about 4 percent from the $655.8 billion dropped on merchandise last year.
Yet based on multiple reports, shoppers are less and less enthralled with the chaos of Black Friday. Roughly 35 percent of consumers still intend to conduct most of their shopping the day after Thanksgiving. But that number registered at 59 percent only two years ago, according to a report from PwC.
However, more than one-third of all American shoppers gearing up for holiday deals simultaneously remains a fantastic logistical challenge.
And so perhaps the second most significant evolution of Black Friday is that it’s no longer just a one day event — at least not everywhere.
Walmart, for instance, will be open from 6 a.m.-midnight on Thanksgiving Day.
There, Black Friday actually begins Thursday afternoon, and the lines that normally form outside the store will begin forming inside of different departments right around the time the tumescent among us are pushing back from the dinner table.
“The sale starts at 6 p.m. Thursday,” Shima said. “Customers can come in (four) hours before that and start lining up or placing themselves in front of the items that they’re wanting to purchase when the sale goes live.”
The big ticket items at Walmart this year are likely to be electronics, which isn’t a break from the norm. Shima said HD televisions, gaming systems and even personal drones are projected as hot commodities when Black Friday kicks off.
The timing gets even more confusing when considering a third major change to retail’s “Super Bowl Friday” — the reality that much of it no longer even happens on the traditional playing field.
Of course, the atmosphere at brick and mortar locations will still be reminiscent of Black Fridays — or Thursdays, as it were — past.
“It’s definitely crowded, electric,” Shima said. “You can feel it within the stores. But it’s pretty controlled. People are very happy and very in it to win it.”
Many are now playing from home, however, and not just on Cyber Monday — the digital equivalent of Black Friday in this technologically advanced age where in just a couple of clicks, you’re home … without ever having actually left your home.
Walmart’s Black Friday pricing goes live at 7 p.m. HST Wednesday night with the same offers for those who will bust through the sliding glass Friday.
The game has also changed for Home Depot, which chooses instead to give all of its associates the Thanksgiving Day holiday off.
Even though the store will adhere to the traditional Friday timing of the sale, The Home Depot will offer online shoppers in Waimea or Ocean View the same chance at 99-cent poinsettias and up to 40 percent discounts on appliances as those customers who line up Friday morning before the store opens its doors at 6 a.m.
Although, those playing along from their couches won’t get all the same amenities as those who brave the “chilly” West Hawaii morning — namely free coffee, donuts and other complementary food and drink for the first 400 customers or so.
They also won’t get a firsthand look at the selection of Christmas trees ranging from 4-10 feet at four different price points.
“We’ll have a really interesting selection of special buys, things we don’t ordinarily carry in the store like a lot of toys and games really targeting children and families,” said Theresa Lundy, human resources manager at The Home Depot. “It’s a lot of fun. It’ll be busy, but we’ve done this before and we’ve got a team of seasoned managers, so it’s kind of organized chaos.”
The Home Depot plans to push its Black Friday celebration into Saturday, hosting a kids’ clinic where children will be building something holiday-themed for their homes.
The last notable alteration to the Super Bowl of retail are the players themselves. Not only have online giants like Amazon honed in on the action, but some small businesses have also made a concerted effort to steal playing time from the traditional starters.
Amy Sheffield, owner of Pueo Boutique with two locations in Kailua-Kona, said the returning trend of shopping local means there’s now a leftover piece of the proverbial pumpkin pie for everyone on Black Friday (or Black Wednesday or Black Thursday) on through retail’s biggest weekend of the year.
She added that starts with celebrating Small Business Saturday — held the day after Black Friday — but it doesn’t end there.
“Usually on Black Friday, you think of Walmart and Target and all those places getting the majority of the business,” Sheffield said. “But over the years, we’ve found most people really want to keep their money local and buy local gifts.”
So even though participation has waned statistically, and even though the timing, the venue and the players surrounding Black Friday have changed significantly, one element remains the same — when the whistle blows, the money still flows.
One way or another.