NOVEMBER 27, 2015, 8:30 AM LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2015, 11:33 PM
BY JOAN VERDON, MELANIE ANZIDEI AND KATHLEEN LYNN
STAFF WRITERS |
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Chris Singleton of North Arlington was out shopping with his wife and children on Black Friday because the post-Thanksgiving activity is a holiday tradition.
“It’s not even the deals, it’s just the excitement,” said Singleton, a telecommunications engineer who was shopping at the Toys “R” Us on Route 17 in Paramus. “It gets you into the holiday spirit.”
For thousands of shoppers in North Jersey, the malls and stores still are the place to be on the Friday after Thanksgiving. But the Black Friday shopping frenzy that used to jam the highways near the malls and create long lines at the stores is not that big of a deal anymore.
The spending that used to be focused on a single “Super Bowl of Shopping” event now is spread out over multiple days, and divided by new ways to shop, such as online or with a smartphone, that don’t involve driving to the mall.
“Every year the season gets longer,” said Charlie O’Shea, vice president at Moody’s Investors Service, referring to earlier promotions. And this year, many of the top deals were available online, as well as in stores, unlike previous years. As a result, he said, it is more difficult to compare the strength of this Black Friday to previous years.
