Columbus stores and law enforcement have been busier than usual due to Black Friday, widely regarded as one of the busiest shopping days of the year.
Belk opened late on Thanksgiving and stayed open overnight. Over 1,000 people were waiting at the doors when employees opened them at 6 p.m. Thursday, according to Deborah Thinisey, the sales team manager of Men’s and Cosmetics. Thinisey added the crowds started to die off after 2 a.m. Friday morning.
The store gave away over 400 door busters and gift cards as part of its Black Friday deal, Thinisey said. She added people were in line for the gift cards at 4 p.m. Thursday.
The store will be open until 10 p.m. on Friday.
Unlike Belk, Deep South Pout was closed all day for Thanksgiving, but both the Starkville and Columbus stores opened at 6 a.m. Friday. Jackie Chasteen, a manager of the Columbus store, estimated her store had at least 400 people within two and a half hours after opening. She added around 50 were waiting outside when the doors opened.
Katie Dalstra, a manager at the Starkville location, reported that by 5:30 a.m. Friday over 50 people were waiting outside the doors of Deep South Pout to be the first to get their hands on deals. When the doors opened, the crowd had grown to about 100, she said.
Deep South Pout has different sales throughout the day, with larger savings available the earlier shoppers arrived. Stores at both locations will close at 8 p.m. Friday.
Reed’s on Highway 45 opened its doors at 8 a.m. and immediately ran out of door buster cards for the crowd of 75 or 80 people waiting outside, according to store owner Lex Jackson, who added that it was encouraging to have people standing outside the door.
“We’ve never been disappointed by a Black Friday,” Jackson said.
Reed’s has lots of one-day specials for Black Friday, such as 30 percent off some jackets and different deals that are only good until a certain time of day, Jackson said. He added that while Black Friday is always a good day, it’s never the best day of the year for Reed’s, which usually has even better days in the week or 10 days before Christmas. He said the store also did well on Wednesday and assumed that many people wanted to get their shopping done before Black Friday.
Law enforcement has also increased its presence for Black Friday, according to Fred Shelton, interim police chief of the Columbus Police Department. The CPD has sent more officers on foot patrols in big shopping areas and downtown through Thursday evening and all Friday, Shelton said. He added that as of 9 a.m. Friday morning, there had been no Black Friday-related incidents which required law enforcement officers to become involved.
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