-December 8,2021-
Shopping malls in Hanford and Visalia are reporting holiday sales in line with what is happening across the US.
Visalia Mall manager Rick Feder sales at the town’s biggest shopping center were brisk but traffic was down 5% from pre-pandemic 2019 numbers
“Everyone beat their 2020 numbers because of COVID. Most retailers beat their Black Friday numbers compared to 2019. Traffic was 95% of what we did in 2019. In a nutshell – somewhat fewer customers but they bought more.”
Feder says the rest of the weekend was a mixed bag. Some retailers did as well as 2019 while others just missed their numbers.
At the Visalia Mall, the top five stores for overall weekend sales were Macy’s, and among smaller shops American Eagle, Foot Locker, Hollister, Hot Topic and Hollister.
“Customers were in a great mood, enjoying their holiday shopping experience.”
In Kings County, Hanford Mall was closed on Thanksgiving day with the exception of the movie theatre. Mall general manager Joanne Doerter said the mall opened its doors on Black Friday at 8:00 am however Kohl’s, JCPenney and Big 5 all opened at 6:00 am where customers were lined up for the Black Friday DoorBuster offerings.
“Shoppers were clearly more comfortable going into stores than they were last year – however, foot traffic appeared to be down approximately between 10-15% over pre-pandemic 2019 “Doerter observed.
Across the US nearly 180 million Americans shopped during the five-day holiday shopping period from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday, according to the annual survey released this week by the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics.
Shoppers for the first time in years were able to shop with friends and family pointing to how Thanksgiving shopping remains a big social affair.
Early shoppers hit the stores
“Retailers have adapted and enticed customers with a number of incentives throughout November. The Thanksgiving holiday weekend remains a significant time for friends and families to check specific holiday items off their lists,” said NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay. “Over the last few years consumers have shifted their holiday shopping plans to start earlier in the season.”
In total, 179.8 million unique shoppers made in-store and online purchases during the holiday weekend, exceeding NRF’s initial expectations by over 21 million. The figure compares with 186.4 million shoppers in 2020 and is in line with the average of the last four years.
The National Retail Federation reports the number of people who shopped in stores increased this year. Retailers saw an increase in foot traffic, with approximately 104.9 million shoppers visiting stores, up from 92.3 million in 2020. The overall number of online shoppers decreased to a total of 127.8 million from 145.4 million last year.
Black Friday remained the most popular day for in-store shopping, with 66.5 million shoppers, followed by 51 million +shoppers on Small Business Saturday. The importance of supporting local businesses remained top of mind for many consumers, with 71 percent indicating they were shopping specifically for Small Business Saturday. Similar to recent years, Black Friday surpassed Cyber Monday in terms of total online shoppers, with 88 million shopping online the Friday after Thanksgiving compared with 77 million on Monday.