Farmington stores busy with shoppers on Black Friday
Some people started shopping on Thanksgiving
- Stores such as Home Depot, T.J. Maxx, Lowe's and Hobby Lobby were closed on Thanksgiving.
- Nearly 115 million people planned to shop on Black Friday, according to a national survey.
- Walmart, Target and Best Buy were among the stores that opened on Thanksgiving.
FARMINGTON — Shoppers from around the Four Corners descended on Farmington today for Black Friday sales, though some people had gotten a head start a day earlier on Thanksgiving.
Dubbed the biggest shopping weekend of the year, it is projected that 164 million people, or 69 percent of Americans, were considering shopping or were planning to shop during the holiday weekend, according to a survey released by the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights and Analytics.
The survey also included people planning to shop on Monday as part of Cyber Monday sales online.
Parking lots outside the east-side Walmart, Target and Best Buy locations were packed Thursday evening in anticipation of Thanksgiving Day sales.
Audra Winters, president/CEO of the Farmington Chamber of Commerce, said the holiday weekend sales would bring a lot of traffic into the area. She added it would be a busy time for the area businesses participating in Small Business Saturday.
"The whole weekend is going to affect the community," Winters said.
Shoppers like Camille Aloysuis, of Kirtland, and Shannon Oberg, of Farmington, hit some of the sales Thursday evening.
Aloysuis shopped at various stores, including Walmart, Target and Sears, on Thursday night. She and Loren Harrison were shopping for a gaming chair at Office Depot OfficeMax this morning that they had seen advertised.
Best Buy felt too crowded for Oberg on Thursday evening, who added he preferred the smaller crowds this morning.
He and his wife Shawna Oberg were in line waiting for Sportsman's Warehouse to open at 6 a.m. today to get a deal on a present for one of his children.
About 20 percent of people surveyed by the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights and Analytics planned to shop on Thanksgiving, while 70 percent of them, or nearly 115 million people, planned to shop today.
Some of the stores Aloysuis visited this morning included Big 5 Sporting Goods, Big R of Farmington and Dick's Sporting Goods. She prefers shopping in person instead of online.
"It's impersonal, I guess. You don't get to see what the item looks like," Aloysuis said.
Mary Purser, Office Depot OfficeMax store manager, said there were quite a few customers lined up for the store's 7:45 a.m. opening who were there in search of laptop computers. Employees and Purser arrived at the store at 6 a.m. to prepare for the Black Friday sale.
While shopping in Sears at the Animas Valley Mall this morning, Viann Willits, of Farmington, was trying to find tools that would make good presents this holiday season.
"I need some tools. All men like tools, even if they have the same one," Willits said.
She said she also prefers shopping in person but avoids shopping on Thanksgiving. Family members visited the Willits' home on Thanksgiving, focusing on cooking, eating, napping and watching football.
Office Depot OfficeMax, along with such stores as the Home Depot, T.J. Maxx, Lowe's and Hobby Lobby, were closed on Thanksgiving.
At Home Depot, Joni Lapahie, of Newcomb, took advantage of the Black Friday sales to purchase flooring and light fixtures for her home renovation.
Lapahie described herself as a bargain shopper who likes to price match online sales at area stores to get the best deal.
Joshua Kellogg covers crime, courts and social issues for The Daily Times. He can be reached at 505-564-4627 or via email at jkellogg@daily-times.com.