Black Friday off to a quiet start in Maine - Press Herald

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Beck Carrier and Anthony Valley were on a Black Friday mission that started Wednesday night.

Each intent on scoring a hard-to-find PlayStation 5 gaming console, the friends from Gorham set up camp outside video game seller Game Stop in South Portland at 7 p.m. Wednesday. They pitched a pop-up tent, parked a camper nearby and feasted on Thanksgiving dinner delivered by their families.

In a normal year, Carrier and Valley would be among hundreds of people waiting in lines outside stores in Maine on Black Friday. But this is not a normal year.

Beck Carrier, second from left in American Flag sweatshirt, and Anthony Valley, third from left, both 18 from Gorham, wait with a handful of their friends outside of Game Stop on Black Friday in South Portland. The teens have been outside waiting since Wednesday night in hopes of getting their hands on the only two new PlayStation 5s the store had in-stock. Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer

Gone are midnight openings and in-person-only doorbuster deals that some shoppers can’t pass up. As stores in South Portland and Scarborough opened around dawn on Friday, most parking lots in the mall area were nearly empty, and few stores had shoppers waiting to get in.

With major retailers starting sales early to discourage the typical Black Friday crowds because of the coronavirus pandemic, there was less incentive for shoppers to head out in the early hours to stand in line to score holiday deals. As shoppers avoid physical stores and focus more on online shopping, foot traffic at retail stores is expected to be down 22 percent to 25 percent during the six key weeks of the holiday season compared with the same period a year ago, according to a forecast from ShopperTrak.

The day after Thanksgiving has been losing its luster as the unofficial start to the holiday shopping season for the past several years, with more stores offering holiday discounts throughout the month. But Black Friday has remained the busiest day of the year, according to ShopperTrak, and is expected to hold that title again this year.

The National Retail Federation, the nation’s largest retail trade group, has taken an optimistic view, predicting that shoppers will be looking for reasons to celebrate. The trade group expects sales for the November and December period to increase by 3.6 percent to 5.2 percent over 2019, compared with a 4 percent increase the year before. Holiday sales have averaged annual gains of 3.5 percent over the past five years.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has labeled shopping in crowded stores during the holidays a “higher risk” activity and says people should limit any in-person shopping, including at supermarkets. The health agency recommends shopping online, visiting outdoor markets or using curbside pickup.

Ron Burwood walks out with a PlayStation 5 just after 7 a.m. on Friday at Game Stop in Augusta. He had arrived at 7:30 a.m. Thursday and waited 23 1/2 hours to purchase the only two Sony PlayStation 5 consoles at the store. Isaac Wallace, right, was second in line and arrived around 2 p.m Thursday and he got one of the 6 Xbox consoles. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal Buy this Photo

Carrier and Valley, the 18-year-old friends from Gorham, typically go out to do some Black Friday shopping, but this year had to put in more effort to land the PS5 consoles, which retails for $500.

“This was extreme,” Carrier said. “We knew if we wanted the console, we had to go all in on it.”

By 6:45 a.m. Friday, a line of about 20 shoppers had gathered behind Carrier and Valley. All were wearing masks and standing 6 feet apart. When an employee came out to announce the store only had six consoles to sell and that they had been claimed by the first six people, the entire line dissipated within seconds.

Across the plaza at Target, a handful of people waited for the doors to open, but there were no crowds and plenty of open parking spots. Outside of movie, music and video game retailer Bull Moose, three people stood in line waiting for the store to open. At Walmart, a handful of shoppers wearing masks walked into the store with no wait.

There was a little activity at the Maine Mall shortly after it opened Friday. Shoppers – all wearing masks and many of them teenagers – walked through the nearly empty center court. Employees stood in front of nearly empty stores, waiting to count shoppers as they entered.

Mindy Pye and Steve Wescott of Freeport go shopping every Black Friday, usually for Christmas gifts. They started this year with a stop at Best Buy to pick up a couple video games that were on sale. They also planned to stop at Walmart, Target and the Freeport outlets.

Pye said she missed going out for midnight openings, which she normally prefers because she can avoid crowds. While there were few people at the mall while she was there, Pye said she worried the later store opening times would lead to long lines and crowds later in the morning.

“Normally we’d be back home sleeping by now,” she said.

This story will be updated.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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