Highland Lakes shoppers seek good deals at stores big and small

By Emily Hilley-Sierzchula

It’s clear Black Friday has arrived when the sound of wallets creaking open mingles with a few impatient toes tapping as folks wait in line, arms full of good-deal Christmas presents. 

However, local shoppers were part of a nationwide trend in which more people delayed Thanksgiving dinner, shopping instead. 

Highland Lakes shoppers joined the more than 134 million holiday bargain-hunters over Thanksgiving weekend, although that is a decrease from last year.

“Overall shopper traffic from Thanksgiving Day through Sunday, Nov. 30 dropped more than five percent from 2013,” according to a National Retail Federation (NRF) statement Sunday, Nov. 30. 

Shoppers at Bealls in Marble Falls formed a line that stretched almost to FM 1431 Thanksgiving Day, and a hastily-composed handwritten sign on the door read: “Shoppers, form one line.”

Bealls employees noted a slightly more subdued Friday with less traffic than Thanksgiving Day, reflecting the larger nationwide trend of Thanksgiving Day shopping over Black Friday. 

Perhaps tryptophan hangovers affected shoppers’ gusto for Black Friday bargain-seeking.

“You should have been here yesterday,” said employee Jill Mathena, who has worked for the company for four years. 

Employees were busy not only ringing up shoppers, but hauling goods from the storeroom onto the store’s floor. “You should see the back room,” Mathena said. “We’ve been getting more [merchandise] out as fast as we can, whenever we have a free minute.”

Still,  some shoppers still see Black Friday as a tradition.

For more, see Tuesday's Highlander.