Black Friday sales go as projected in Athens

It has been two weeks since Black Friday, and the holiday season is still underway. Stores throughout Athens have begun with their seasonal sales. While several of the larger stores started the holiday shopping season with sales starting two Fridays ago, some of the smaller local shops will not have a noticeable approach to their sales strategies.The House is a branch of the College Book Store which sells Under Armour products just on the edge of campus on Court St. House employee Robert Carpenter said that to his knowledge, there would be no storewide clearance sales.“We have the standard clearance rack in the back, but we will not be doing the storewide thing,” Carpenter said. “Our prices are all pretty standard, so we will not need to change them.”This decision was echoed throughout other stores on Court St. The Other Place, a women’s fashion store, is just a few doors down from the House. Store manager and buyer, Sami Ritchie, said that while they did have a Black Friday Sale, the store most likely will not be having any further sales.“Most of our business is affected by the students. And even then, our busiest time is generally in the spring, most likely because of fashion,” Ritchie said.She went on to say the store would continue to keep the same hours, with some closures on Sundays when students are not around.“We do not hire seasonal staff either, since the majority of the staff is students anyway. They go home for the holidays, just like the business,” she said. Ritchie then mentioned the only products on sale are Select Vera Bradley products, but besides the clearance rack, there will be no other sales at the moment.Further down Court St., the Artifacts Gallery had a very similar mindset. Employee Cassi Spires said the store did not have a storewide Black Friday sale but certain products would be sold for lowered prices.“Some of our jewelry products are on sale, there are certain shirts and dresses as well,” said Spires.The store’s philosophy mirrored The Other Place in regards to college students.“Business picks up slightly, but it is mostly men who come in for last minute jewelry. We get a few college kids, but not too many.”Spires also said that the store keeps normal hours, but adds some diversity to its inventory.“We stock up on more of our novelty gag gifts since people like to buy them as stocking stuffers, but we normally don’t sell those throughout the year.”Larger stores have a more direct approach to Black Friday and the holiday sales. Walmart employee Karen described last Friday’s sale.“People began to really come in in the evening [of Thanksgiving]. We were still open for 24 hours, so we did not have a huge line out the door. The sales were mostly focused on electronics, such as TVs and DVDs. The standard stuff, really.”Karen also said she does not think the sale disrupted the smaller stores’ business routines or profit expectation. “They are good, too. I may work for a large company, but I still like to go to the smaller, local stores.”