Karen Diamond, owner of Virgo Rising in Felton, said Black Friday — the Friday after Thanksgiving and the busiest shopping day of the year — is often a nonevent for local stores.
“At least in the past, everyone runs off to the big-box stores and ignores all the great little stores in the valley,” said Diamond, who’s owned her gift boutique for 17 years.
Black Friday occurs the day after Thanksgiving and was started in the late 1960s as way to revive stores “in the red” — or that weren’t turning a profit. The day has been known to bring out frenzied crowds of shoppers who fiend a good deal and are willing to wait outside storefronts at dawn, sometimes stepping over other shoppers in a rush to be the first inside.
Last year, a Walmart employee in Long Island, N.Y., was trampled to death by the herd of shoppers who burst through a door. He died shortly after of asphyxiation.
But in Scotts Valley and the San Lorenzo Valley, most retail stores are mostly silent on the big day.
Mike Richie, owner of Scotts Valley Feed, said that his pet supply store is pretty calm on the so-called busiest shopping day of the year.
“We will be open on Black Friday, but shoppers usually go to big-box stores like Best Buy and forget the smaller stores,” Richie said, “especially the mom-and-pop places like ours.”
In response to the economic woes of late, big retailers are going all-out this year — offering up deals and hours that are hard for shoppers to refuse. It’s a classic corporate scenario that often leaves smaller stores in the dust.
Radioshack in Scotts Valley will open a day early on Thanksgiving to kick off its sale, and it will open at 5:30 a.m. on Black Friday. Similarly, Kmart will open at 7 a.m. on Thanksgiving and 6 a.m. the day after.
Scarborough Ace Hardware will be open two hours early at 7 a.m. to kick off Black Friday this year. The store is having a three-day sale with drastically reduced items, store manager Debbe Jolley said.
“It’s a big day every year,” Jolley said.
While recently-opened Debutante gears up for its first Black Friday in Scotts Valley, the store ownership hopes for the best. The designer boutique will open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. instead of its usual 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. hours.
“We’re very excited for our first holiday season in Scotts Valley,” said store manager Julie Ball.
To bring in customers, the store will give away a mystery gift with every purchase, Ball said.
Clare Campbell, owner of Outback Trading Company in Felton, said that Black Friday is like any other shopping days at her apparel and gift store.
Campbell said that she can’t compete with the giants like Best Buy and Kmart, but she’ll still open her store on the big day.
“I’ve had my store for 12 years,” said Campbell in her native Aussie twang. “People know that I can’t drop my prices like the big corporations do.”
