Almost normal: Black Friday returns to Ventura County, minus crazy crowds

Black Friday returned to mostly normal around Ventura County this year after last season's COVID-related disruptions.

But long lines of early-bird consumers — once a staple of the day-after-Thanksgiving shopping event — didn't materialize as they had before.

At Pacific View mall in Ventura, a steady trickle of shoppers roamed stores Friday morning. At 8 a.m., the enclosed center's hallways were uncrowded. Some visitors wandered past window displays. Lines of about 8-10 people had formed outside Kay Jewelers and Heaven Sneaker Shop.

Some who already hit cash registers carried multiple bags from department stores JCPenney and Macy's.

Out in the parking lot, Ventura resident Kathy Trigueiro, 64, loaded a large box with a pressure cooker and air fryer into the back of her car.

Trigueiro said she shops at JCPenney every year on Black Friday, though she doesn't get up as early as she used to. The store had opened at 5 a.m., but this year she got to the mall at around 7.

"There were very little crowds compared to three years ago," she said.

Trigueiro said she prefers to shop in person rather than online so she can actually see items on sale and feel clothing fabrics.

Malls and stores around the country reported decent-sized crowds, if not the floods of people that used to fight over the latest toys and electronics, the Associated Press reported. Online shopping is too common for that now, and discounts are more subdued and spread out over the weeks leading up to Christmas, both on websites and in stores.

The country's largest mall, the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, said nearly 100,000 people had come as of early afternoon Friday, more than double last year but a bit shy of 2019 numbers. Staffing issues that have hit many retailers and restaurants, however, also affected the mall, which had to trim the hours it was open.

Overall holiday sales are expected to grow this year. The National Retail Federation predicts a sales increase of 8.5% to 10.5% for all of November and December, after 8% growth in those months in 2020.

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At the Collection at RiverPark in Oxnard, streets were mostly quiet at 9 a.m. More shoppers were expected to arrive in the afternoon when holiday events were planned.

Twins Nick and Jon Adams of Oxnard had just finished shopping at Target as they sat on a bench at nearby Ulta Beauty. The 24-year-olds had bought some food and treats for their dogs and socks for their family.

Target was the only store they shopped at Friday morning. They had wanted to look for deals at REI but discovered the store was closed for the day. The outdoor gear retailer shuts doors on Black Friday in favor of the so-called #OptOutside movement.

The twin brothers said they might visit Home Depot in the Esplanade Shopping Center on the other side of Highway 101. But any additional Black Friday shopping would be done from behind a computer screen.

“I feel maybe I might do all of my shopping online,” Jon Adams said.

Small groups could be seen walking through the Collection's open-air sidewalks, strolling from storefront to storefront. Businesses like Cotton On, Forever 21, Vans, Sunglass Hut and Urban Outfitters had a few customers looking over products inside.

Some shoppers said they were opting for online deals.

Kanoa Roman, 40, and his 9-month-old son Kaenan sat outside Starbucks waiting for their order around 9:15 a.m. Roman said his coffee maker broke recently so he'd walked from his home in the surrounding Riverpark community to grab a cup.

Roman said he wasn’t going to buy a new machine at one of the center's stores. He'd already ordered one online that morning. He planned to do the rest of his shopping from the comfort of home.

“It’s just easier and more convenient, and you can have a drink while you do it,” he said.

While Black Friday has a strong hold on Americans' imaginations as a day of crazed shopping, it has lost stature over the last decade as stores opened on Thanksgiving and shopping shifted to Amazon and other online retailers, according to the Associated Press.

Stores diluted the day's importance further by advertising Black Friday sales on more and more days. The pandemic led many retailers to close stores on Thanksgiving Day and push discounts on their websites starting as early as October. That practice continued this year, although there are deals in stores as well.

.At the Best Buy on Rose Avenue in Oxnard, families and solo shoppers came in and went through the front doors of the electronics retailer around 10 a.m. Parking spots weren't hard to find.

One Oxnard family was enjoying their first in-person Black Friday expedition.

"We just came out to see what's on sale," said Mauricio Lazcano, 14.

The teen was accompanied by his father and his little sister. The Lazcanos had awakened at 6 a.m. to check for deals at Walmart, but said nothing stood out to them. They headed to Best Buy, where they bought a television.

Standing in the parking lot, the teen described the stores he'd visited that morning as calm, even though lots of people were inside.

"I was expecting something crazier," he said.

The family said they might shop at Sam's Club before doing the rest of their holiday shopping online.

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By midafternoon Friday, crowds had thickened at The Oaks mall in Thousand Oaks, where the murmuring of shoppers' conversations nearly overpowered Christmas music drifting from the center's sound system. Outside, parking spaces were hard to find around 3 p.m.

Shoppers are expected to pay on average between 5% to 17% more for toys, clothing, appliances, TVs and others purchases on Black Friday this year compared with last year, according to Aurelien Duthoit, senior sector advisor at Allianz Research, with the biggest price increases on TVs. That's because whatever discounts are available will be applied to goods that already cost more.

Online shopping remains huge, and sales are expected to rise 7% for the week after the massive 46% gain a year ago, when many shoppers stayed home, according to Mastercard. For the overall holiday season, online sales should increase 10% from a year ago, compared with a 33% increase last year, according to Adobe Digital Economy Index.

"What the pandemic did for retail was, it forced them to be better digital retailers," said Marshal Cohen of market research firm NPD Group.

– The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Cytlalli Salgado is a breaking news reporter for the Ventura County Star. She can be reached by calling 805-437-0257 or emailing cytlalli.salgado@vcstar.com.

Brian J. Varela covers Oxnard, Port Hueneme and Camarillo. He can be reached at brian.varela@vcstar.com or 805-477-8014. You can also find him on Twitter @BrianVarela805.

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Black Friday returns to Ventura County, minus crazy crowds