Shoppers embrace Black Friday

GEORGE NEWS - Georgians who plucked up the courage to face the throngs and queues on Black Friday were no doubt pleased with the huge savings they had made. And traders are smiling all the way to the bank.

A quick survey revealed that many shops extended Black Friday, with promotional offers starting a few days earlier and extending into the weekend, which helped to curb overcrowding.

Kloppers manager Hein Botha was extremely pleased with their takings. "And we have the Americans to thank," was his tongue-in-cheek comment about the queues of shoppers. "We showed a huge growth on last year's Black Friday. We had more than 100 items on sale. The most popular line was electronics - computers, cameras and electrical equipment."

Their promotion started on Wednesday, but they made sure to be well stocked for Friday. It took five months of preparations. "You must have enough of the right stock. Our suppliers help us so that we can offer good specials. You also need enough staff on the floor and the delivery people must be at the ready."

Shoprite and Checkers enjoyed a record-breaking Black Friday, according to their communications department. The company said the fact that it took place a week later, after payday, made a big difference. "The deals on offer were carefully selected to give consumers real, substantial savings of up to 50%. "The most popular items were those with the biggest discounts."

Kasper, who is not used to sleeping alone, finds comfort in his new Black Friday teddy.

According to Natalie Adams of Dis-Chem in the Garden Route Mall, it was somewhat crowded, but they were well prepared and managed it with ease. "Personal care products flew off the shelves, as well as a fabric softener that sold at a very good price. The promotion lasted for the whole weekend and we struggled to get the customers out of the shop."

Mr. Tekkie CEO Bernard Mostert said Black Friday was a very successful day for them. "Overall trading exceeded our expectations. Nationally all our stores traded very successfully and we are happy that we served our customers well through a combination of innovative deals. Naturally it is also a memorable day for us as a George business. One year ago on Black Friday we opened our two George stores. This year we have added The Luggage Outlet at Eden Meander. This store is an evolution from our partnership with the New House of Busby. Locally we are adding another Mr. Tekkie in Hartenbos this December and also a Brandmania store in George early next year."

Carlos da Silva of the Pick n Pay Precap Centre said he was happy. "Friday was the busiest, but our special offers were for the whole weekend and people were queuing."

Riaan van Rooyen, CEO of Tekkie Town, was also pleased and said they achieved record sales.

Volpes was busy for the whole week as they offered their Black Friday promotions from Monday onwards with prices on certain items reduced by up to 60%. Floor manager Daniel Stevens was very satisfied with their takings.

The assistant manager at Toys R Us, Cezley Floris, was delighted that their sales were up from last year. "Especially on Friday morning we had a huge rush. One or two lines were even sold out. Lego was our best seller."

Game was also approached for comment, but the store manager referred us to their head office, where no contact could be established before the paper went to print.

Queues at Pick n Pay Garden Route Mall.