Black Friday: Turnout strong at Providence Place mall

SHOPPERS LINE UP OUTSIDE THE Apple store at the Providence Place mall on Black Friday. / PBN PHOTO/ELI SHERMAN
SHOPPERS LINE UP OUTSIDE THE Apple store at the Providence Place mall on Black Friday. / PBN PHOTO/ELI SHERMAN

PROVIDENCE – Providence Place mall retailers were thrilled with shopper turnout Friday, as those who opened early were met by hundreds of Black Friday enthusiasts.
Blue laws prevent Rhode Island, along with Massachusetts and Maine, from opening on Thanksgiving Day, but the old law didn’t stop dedicated shoppers from lining up outside large retail shops Thursday for “Door Buster” deals beginning after midnight.
“We opened really strong at 12:15 [a.m.] and we had people waiting in the mall by 10 [p.m.],” said Bob Clayton at about 11 a.m. Friday.
Clayton is Macy’s vice president store manager at the Providence Place Mall and has been working with the company for 23 years.
“Traffic is great. We haven’t slowed down and it seems to be getting stronger,” he said.
Mall foot traffic slowed down for a couple hours Friday morning, but by 11:30 a.m. shoppers seemed to be showing up again in throngs.
Tom Mosby, a sales representative with White Horse Electronic Cigarettes, works at a first floor kiosk and was experiencing his first Black Friday at the mall. Mosby said he and some associates came in around midnight just to set up for Friday morning, but ended up opening up shop because turnout was so strong.
“We opened about three weeks ago and this is the busiest we’ve been,” Mosby said.
While many retailers compete to be first, others don’t open their doors until regular hours – some out of respect for Thanksgiving. Nordstrom, another large retailer on the opposite side of the mall from Macy’s, didn’t put up holiday lights until after close of business Wednesday, so to not interfere with Thanksgiving celebrations.
Although Rhode Island numbers weren’t immediately available, the National Retail Federation earlier this week predicted a 4.1 percent gain in retail sales nationwide for November and December. The increase would be the largest since 2011 when sales jumped 4.8 percent.
Clayton wouldn’t speculate on Macy’s upcoming holiday numbers, but did expect customer levels to be up again for the fifth consecutive year.
“We feel good about it,” Clayton said.

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