BackAmid coronavirus surge, holiday shoppers flock to malls
Shoppers at malls in three states say they want to get ahead of Black Friday crowds—and potential shutdowns
PremiumAmericans visited malls this past weekend saying they wanted to do Christmas shopping before potential shutdown restrictions are implemented or to avoid Black Friday crowds, as the spreading coronavirus looms over the holiday season.
Tiffany Lambert and her 15-year-old son hunted for an Xbox Series X, a new hard-to-find videogame console, inside the Best Buy Co. store at Crossgates Mall in Albany, N.Y., on Saturday.
“We normally would come here and a few other places on Thanksgiving and Black Friday," said Ms. Lambert, wearing a blue surgical mask and hoping to avoid bigger crowds later this week. “Now we will do everything online."
It is shaping up to be a holiday season unlike any other, with retailers, health officials and consumers trying to navigate the pandemic. Walmart Inc. and Target Corp. last week reported strong sales and executives said shoppers have been busy buying gifts along with household essentials. This week, investors will get updates from Best Buy and apparel shops like Gap Inc. Many chains are closing on Thanksgiving and posting their Black Friday deals online.
The National Retail Federation doesn’t expect the coronavirus pandemic to dent holiday sales. The trade group forecasts an increase of 3.6% to 5.2% from a year ago. Last year, U.S. holiday sales rose 4% to $729.1 billion. The figures, which exclude automobiles, gasoline and restaurants, are for November and December. The trade group expects online sales, which are included in the total, will increase 20% to 30% from a year ago.
One big wild card to the season: whether authorities will impose fresh shutdowns as a surge in Covid-19 cases coincides with retailers’ critical holiday season. States such as California and Ohio have imposed 10 p.m. curfews. Last week New Mexico issued a stay-at-home order and told nonessential stores to shut their doors to customers through Nov. 30, which would include the Black Friday sales weekend.
There were crowds at three shopping malls that reporters from The Wall Street Journal visited in New York, Michigan and Texas on Saturday. Some shoppers said they wanted to beat the holiday crush or take advantage of early deals promoted by many retailers. Others said they needed to get out of the house.
Taylor Espinosa went to an outdoor mall in Austin, Texas, with her boyfriend and his family, visiting from Ohio, because she thought it would be a relatively low-risk daytime activity. “The appeal of this is it’s outside, fresh air, it’s safe—safer," said the 28-year-old Austin resident. “But it is pretty crowded."
Foot traffic to U.S. malls has recovered from the spring, when malls were deemed nonessential and forced to close in many states. Even before Covid-19, malls were struggling to draw customers as more spending shifted online and to off-mall retailers. Most malls have reopened with new coronavirus-related restrictions and some shops shut, though shopper visits are below last year.
Crossgates Mall in Albany reopened in mid-July. Around 46% fewer shoppers visited in August compared with last year, according to Placer.ai, a research firm that uses cellphone data to estimate foot traffic. By October, 29% fewer shoppers visited than last year. “Mall visits are rebounding, and the pace is picking up heading into a critical holiday period," the firm said in a report.
On Saturday, the mall’s Lord & Taylor department store was dotted with signs advertising “Going out of business" sales. The movie theater was shut after reopening in October, then closing again early this month. Best Buy, Lego and Apple stores, among others, attracted droves of shoppers, with lines forming outside to control crowds inside.
Malls face the potential for further limits or shutdowns as U.S. Covid-19 cases soar, topping 12 million over the weekend. At the same time, consumer spending has been strong this year despite the economic toll of the pandemic and millions of Americans losing their jobs.
“People are getting shopping done early this year," said a sales clerk at a Michael Kors store inside Crossgates who was furloughed during the mall’s closure earlier this year. Sales started early, which is drawing shoppers and “they are scared of a lockdown," the worker said.
At the Twelve Oaks Mall in Novi, Mich., Anette Ratajczak and her daughter did their annual holiday shopping trip early. “This is our big haul," said Ms. Ratajczak, 50, holding several stuffed shopping bags.
She and her daughter, Alyssa Moll, normally take a trip to Chicago to do their holiday shopping, but they canceled the trip as coronavirus cases have risen. Instead, they hit three of the biggest malls in southeast Michigan in one weekend.
“It’s a little sad we’re not doing it on Black Friday, but we’re just so scared everything is going to shut down again," Ms. Moll, 23, said.
Many shoppers came to malls Saturday to hold on to some of their holiday traditions.
Sara Daniels, 36, from Wyandotte, Mich., wasn’t sure if her annual girls’ trip with her mom, aunts and cousins would go on this year, but in the end they decided to do their usual holiday shopping trip to Twelve Oaks Mall. Normally the group goes out for dinner the night before, but this year they ordered delivery and gathered in their hotel lobby.
“I’ll still do most of my shopping online this year," Ms. Daniels said. “I’m trying really hard not to come out too much, and we almost didn’t do this shopping trip this year, but in the end we decided to do it and try our best to be safe about it."
Online shopping is expected to surge this holiday season. Already, demand has strained the e-commerce supply chain and digital infrastructure of some retailers. The top of Costco Wholesale Corp.’s website carries a warning: “We encourage you to shop early this year, to ensure that your small parcel items arrive on time."
Walmart’s website has slowed and malfunctioned in recent weeks as shoppers rushed to buy the new PlayStation 5 videogame console, which the retailer offered only online. “We did see massive traffic, which caused some customers to experience intermittent slowness for a few minutes," said a Walmart spokeswoman earlier this month.
Shoppers reported varying levels of comfort with Covid-19 risk, though shopped anyway.
Roberta Ford, 75, who lives in Austin, came with her granddaughter Taylor Johnson to get her phone fixed at the Apple store in The Domain, a large outdoor mall in Austin.
Both said they are concerned about rising Covid-19 cases and plan to do nearly all of their holiday shopping online. Since they had to come to the mall anyway, they decided to “take the chance," Ms. Ford said, and make a couple more stops, including in Lush Fresh Handmade Cosmetics, where they were planning to look for stocking stuffers.
Many malls are implementing Covid-19 safety measures with hopes of avoiding more severe government intervention. Twelve Oaks will have a Santa station but will require an appointment and ditch lap sitting. On Saturday mall security was enforcing mask-wearing, with most shoppers complying.
At Crossgates in Albany, shoppers wore masks, except while eating or drinking in the food court and interior restaurants. Stores limited shoppers inside. The Apple store checked shoppers’ temperatures.
At The Domain, the outdoor mall in Austin, individual stores limited the number of shoppers inside, sometimes causing lines to form.
“I don’t like shopping at the moment because of the feel of the mask," said Julie West, who lives in Massachusetts and came to the Crossgates Mall with her children for an indoor activity on a cold day. “It’s just something to do because there is nothing else to do," said the 42-year-old. Ms. West and her family members all wore masks.
In Austin, Debbie and Greg Jenkins, who live in a small town west of the city, were among the few people at The Domain not wearing masks.
“You don’t see masks hanging off our faces, do you?" said Mr. Jenkins, who said they aren’t concerned about the virus and are tired of hearing about it. Mrs. Jenkins plans to do her Christmas shopping in person in the coming weeks, she said. “I’m the kind of person that I have to see something to buy it."
This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.
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