Day Doesn’t Draw Shopping Throngs

By Anne D’innocenzio AP Retail Writer - Nov 27, 2015

Veterans and their families line up to fill their plates with Thanksgiving food at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4372 on Thursday, Nov. 26, 2015, in Odessa, Texas. (Jacob Ford/Odessa American via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT

Shoppers rush through the entrance to the Academy Sports+Outdoors at 5:00 a.m. in the Chimney Rock Shopping Center on Friday, Nov. 27, 2015, in Odessa, Texas. Early numbers arent out yet on how many shoppers headed to stores on Thanksgiving, but its expected that more than three times the number of people will venture out to shop on the day after the holiday known as Black Friday. (Jacob Ford/Odessa American via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT

Koko Htwe looks at a camera at Best Buy with Sandy Htwe, center, and Nyo Nyo Soe on Thursday, Nov. 26, 2015, in Minnetonka, Minn. Early numbers arent out yet on how many shoppers headed to stores on Thanksgiving, but its expected that more than three times the number of people will venture out to shop on the day after the holiday known as Black Friday. (AP Photo/Bruce Kluckhohn)

A boy looks through a door while standing in line for holiday shopping at Best Buy on Thursday, Nov. 26, 2015, in Panama City, Fla. Early numbers arent out yet on how many shoppers headed to stores on Thanksgiving, but its expected that more than three times the number of people will venture out to shop on the day after the holiday known as Black Friday. (Patti Blake/News Herald via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT

People look at merchandise while holiday shopping at Best Buy on Thursday, Nov. 26, 2015, in Panama City, Fla. Early numbers arent out yet on how many shoppers headed to stores on Thanksgiving, but its expected that more than three times the number of people will venture out to shop on the day after the holiday known as Black Friday. (Patti Blake/News Herald via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT

Budtender Trevor Hollis holds a pair of marijuana buds for a customer at the Denver Kush Club early Friday, Nov. 27, 2015, in north Denver. More than two dozen customers took advantage of a new Colorado holiday tradition of marijuana shops drawing customers with discounted weed and holiday gift sets. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Denver Broncos quarterback Brock Osweiler talks to reporters after an NFL football practice at the team's headquarters Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2015, in Englewood, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

An officer stands guard near a Planned Parenthood clinic Friday, Nov. 27, 2015, in Colorado Springs, Colo. A gunman opened fire at the clinic on Friday, authorities said, wounding multiple people. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

New York — The annual ritual of Black Friday, as we know it, is over.

Gone are the throngs of frenzied shoppers camping out for days ahead of the big sales bonanza on the day after Thanksgiving. And forget the fisticuffs over flat-screen TVs.

Instead, stores around the country had sparse parking lots, calm, orderly lines, and modest traffic. Black Friday, which traditionally is the biggest shopping day of the year, almost looked like a normal shopping day. And not every shopper was happy about that.

In Denver, for instance, Susan Montoya had nearly an entire Kmart to herself Friday morning. Montoya half-heartedly flipped through a rack of girls’ holiday party dresses and looked down the store’s empty aisles.

“There’s no one out here!” she said. “This is sad.”

Black Friday for decades was a rite of passage for U.S. shoppers. Many would spend Thanksgiving evening combing through circulars to plot their shopping route for the next day based on the deals they hoped to snag. But in recent years, retailers have tried to capture holiday sales earlier and earlier.

They’ve started offering mega-discounts in stores and online earlier instead of waiting until Black Friday. And in the last few years, they’ve opened locations on Thanksgiving Day, a once-sacred holiday from retail.

That has led to the “graying” of Black Friday. In fact, according to the National Retail Federation, the nation’s largest retail trade group, nearly 60 percent of shoppers had already started holiday buying by Nov. 10.

Early numbers aren’t out yet, but the retail group expected about 30 million people shopped on Thanksgiving and 99.7 million on Black Friday. It also expects about 135.8 million people will be shopping during the four-day weekend, compared with 133.7 million last year.

The group estimates overall sales for November and December will rise 3.7 percent to $630.5 billion compared with last year.

Judging from the crowds so far, though, the shopper numbers could be hard to come by. “The frenzy and traffic levels were subdued,” said Craig Johnson, president of Customer Growth Partners, a retail consultancy.

Here are the three biggest reasons for the graying of Black Friday:

You Don’t Have to Wait For Discounts

Many stores pushed discounts on holiday merchandise early. Because of that, some shoppers weren’t excited about discounts on Thanksgiving and Black Friday.

More People Shop Online

Many stores made their deals available online and in stores for the official start of the season.

No One Will Start a Fight Over Anything, Really

Trend experts say there’s no single item that’s making shoppers rush to stores.

William Taubman, chief operating officer at Taubman Centers, which operates more than 20 U.S. malls, said that without a clear trend in fashion, there’s less of an urgency to buy.

“The trend is no trend,” he said.

For Pam Williams, the Black Friday shopping has lost a bit of its luster because there’s no rush of getting a sought-after item. “They kind of took the fun out of Black Friday when they started opening up on Thursday,” said Williams, who was shopping in Harrisburg, Pa., on Friday.

Day Doesn’t Draw Shopping Throngs

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