Merchants pine for green on Black Friday

In sticking with the trend of the last few years, retailers are offering bigger, earlier deals to get you in their doors this Black Friday, with many trying to woo you before the lights even go out on Thanksgiving.

Last year, almost 25 percent of Black Friday shoppers were at the stores as the date changed, either waiting for shops to open or visiting retailers who opened on Thanksgiving. That's up from 9.5 percent of shoppers in 2010 and 3.3 percent in 2009.

Up to 147 million people plan to shop Black Friday weekend, a slight decrease from the 152 million who planned to shop in 2011. Specifically, 71 million said they would shop and 76 million said they would wait and see what retailers have in store that weekend, according to a preliminary Black Friday shopping survey conducted for the National Retail Federation.

"Though the Black Friday tradition is here to stay, there's no question that it has changed in recent years; already there is a tremendous amount of excitement and anticipation surrounding retailers' Thanksgiving and Black Friday promotions," federation President and CEO Matthew Shay said. "It's critical for retail companies to constantly evolve as consumers do, and right now shoppers want great deals, good value and convenience - exactly what we're seeing with this season's late and early openings, price-matching, layaway and mobile offerings."

In 2011, an estimated 220 million shoppers visited stores and websites throughout Black Friday weekend, up from 212 million in 2010, the federation said.

In 2012, the average holiday shopper will spend $749.51 on gifts, décor and greeting cards throughout the season, up slightly from the $740.57 they spent last year. The retail federation is forecasting overall holiday sales will increase 4.1 percent to $586.1 billion.

And retailers are ready for the spending increase.

"This year, we've increased our buy of holiday merchandise double digits over last year," said Joe McFarland, western division president of Home Depot. "This represents an increase in the number of (stock keeping units) we bought over last year and the depth of the buy in high volume categories."

McFarland's division covers 13 Western states, including Nevada. The home improvement store is expecting to sell 2.5 million fresh-cut Christmas trees in 2012, up from 2 million last year.

Local malls, too, are ready for the onslaught of shoppers headed their way.

"We anticipate Black Friday is going to be a great kickoff to the holiday shopping season," said Janet LaFevre, group marketing manager for General Growth Properties, which owns the Fashion and Meadows malls, the Grand Canal Shoppes at The Venetian and the Shoppes at Palazzo.

In case you're planning to head out this Black Friday, here are a few resources to get you started. For the latest and probably most comprehensive Black Friday sales information, check out blackfriday.com. The site lists ads from most of the top retailers, including Wal-Mart, Target and Toys R Us, but it also explains nontraditional deals such as Amazon's once-every-hour discounts.

With stores offering sales earlier and earlier, many have decided just to offer discounts the whole week of Thanksgiving.

At the Disney Store, for instance, select merchandise goes on sale Nov. 19, days before Black Friday, or as Disney likes to call it, "Magical Friday." Staples, too, is offering early deals, beginning Nov. 18 on its website.

Wal-Mart, Sears, Toys R Us and Kmart are all opening at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving. Target is opening at 9 p.m., and Kohl's and Best Buy are opening as the clock strikes 12.

To capitalize on the early openings of surrounding big-box retailers, Anna's Linens is making its deals available two hours earlier than previously planned; it will now start its Black Friday sale on Thanksgiving at 10 p.m.

The Fashion Outlets of Las Vegas, adjacent to Primm Valley Casino Resorts, too will open its doors to shoppers at 10 p.m. on Thursday .

"Everybody's going to open at midnight. We want to get a jump on the midnight madness," said Teri Laursen, regional tourism director for the mall.

In 2011, the Fashion Outlets' Black Friday sales quadrupled what the mall does on an average Friday, said Laursen.

"I feel confident that we're going to exceed those numbers this year," Laursen said.

Before going into any Black Friday shopping situation, Laursen said shoppers should know what they're getting into.

"This is a serious shopping adventure. It's not just about window-shopping. It's about getting what you need for holiday shopping," she noted.

Laursen recommends making a list to know who you're buying for and what you want, before you get swept up in the madness of the melee. Because of the increasing madness of it all, some retailers are taking steps to provide comfort for weary shoppers.

Town Square, 6605 Las Vegas Blvd. South, is offering a Black Friday Lounge at Town Square Park. Guests have to members of the Inner Square Rewards program to use the lounge, which will be open from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 23. Shoppers who are not yet Inner Square Rewards members can sign up with a concierge representative on the spot for the free loyalty program and be granted access to the lounge.

Besides refreshments from the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, the lounge will feature on-site child care, mobile device charging stations and complimentary Wi-Fi.

And shoppers who choose Kohl's will have more of an ability to integrate technology into their experience this year. On the website, customers can categorize their choices by price, product category or gift recipient. An online listing tool allows customers to create customizable lists track their budgets. On Black Friday, all Kohl's stores are supposed to be equipped with Wi-Fi so customers can access their lists.

And just in case you don't want to leave your house at all, most retailers' deals are available online too, and many of those start days before Black Friday.

Contact reporter Laura Carroll at lcarroll@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4588.