A shorter than normal line-up was outside the door of Best Buy this morning for their Black Friday opening. (Dawson Thompson/paNOW Staff)

By Dawson Thompson

Subdued shopping spree

Prince Albert not rushed for Black Friday

Nov 27, 2020 | 12:30 PM

On the morning of Black Friday, it is typical to see hundreds of shoppers waiting in line outside large retail stores, gathered in the cold early morning frost.

However, this year that was not the case. With masks on, and proper distance between each shopper, a scaled down rush took place in Prince Albert.

paNOW visited Canadian Tire, Walmart, and Best Buy this morning. Less than 200 people in total showed up when doors opened.

Managers of these stores attributed this to adjustments their franchises made to Black Friday deals, spreading them out throughout the week to avoid a big morning rush.

Best Buy Store Manager, Dylan DiMarco told paNOW traffic is less busy this year, despite having a constant line for most of the morning.

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Best Buy had a smaller than normal Black Friday opening line-up this morning. (Dawson Thompson/paNOW Staff)

“This year, the big thing we did was stretched out our Black Friday sale… it was a priority to reduce the traffic on this specific day,” DiMarco said. “We have a curbside pick-up spot as well, so shoppers do not even have to enter the store. Overall, it has been a great day. Customers and staff are doing well, everyone is happy.”

Store Manager for Walmart, Chris Doucette, said they had a small rush first thing in the morning, but traffic was managed well by staff members.

The early morning rush had passed by 8:15 a.m. at Walmart this morning, for Black Friday. (Dawson Thompson/paNOW Staff)

“It has been busy, we had just under 100 people (at 6 a.m.),” Doucette said. “We spread the store out a lot more than we usually would. We put a lot less items in key selling areas to divert traffic.”

Doucette added there was capacity monitoring in the busy electronics section, with customers not shopping in that department being steered away if possible.

Despite having a quieter morning than normal, Doucette expects more shoppers later this afternoon.

Malcolm Jenkins, owner of Canadian Tire, said his location also had a small opening rush and had no issues managing the traffic.

There was a small line-up outside Canadian Tire when they opened this morning at 8 a.m. (Dawson Thompson/paNOW Staff)

“I think we had about 20 people standing outside this morning, which is quite minimal,” Jenkins said.

Canadian Tire also puts on big sales on ‘Red Thursday.’ Jenkins added his store was substantially less busy Thursday as well.

“[Thursday] was basically a normal day in the life of Canadian Tire,” Jenkins said. “We have a set-up at the front where people can wait with distance, and it worked excellently. It was the first time we have experienced large numbers and it absorbed it nicely.”

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Dawson.thompson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: dawsonthompson8