Juneau gets serious about shopping

At 6:30 a.m. Friday, Fred Meyer had been open for 1 1/2 hours. People who arrived at the store at 4:30 a.m. to get a jump-start on the after-Thanksgiving sales were hustling through the snow, pushing loaded carts to their cars.

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After unloading the carts, many shoppers headed on to other retail stores that opened early for what is known among retailers as Black Friday - the busiest shopping day of the year.

"It was kind of a rat race," said Flora Huntington, who went with her daughter and granddaughter to Fred Meyer at 5 a.m. By 7:30, she was on a bench at the Nugget Mall, a cart full of shopping bags in front of her.

"I just came along with my daughter, I wasn't out to shop," she said. "But I managed to fill up a cart anyway."

She and her family bought stocking stuffers, Christmas presents, picture frames and socks, they said.

"It's been more social than shopping," said Lisa Pennoyer, Huntington's daughter.

Although they were only a couple of hours into the Christmas shopping season Friday morning, managers at Fred Meyer ventured to guess that sales this year will be higher than those of the previous two years.

The National Retail Federation, a retail trade association, expects holiday sales nationwide to increase by 5.7 percent this year over last year; consumers are predicted to spend $217.4 billion.

Juneau generally follows the national trends, said Fred Meyer store manager Fred Sayre.

"It's been a great year for us so far," said Fred Meyer electronics manager Larry Galsheen, two hours after the store opened Friday.

"CDs, movies and video games are just flying out of here."

Early Friday afternoon, Pep and John Scott of Gustavus and Larry Tong of Juneau were still on the move after nearly nine hours of shopping.

"We've been going since 4:30," said John Scott, who had spent the last 45 minutes with his wife and father-in-law making their way through the lobby of Centennial Hall, which holds the Juneau Public Market.

Pep and John Scott hoped to get all of their holiday shopping done this weekend. The couple guessed they would spend around $1,000 before they were done.

"I bought this leather coat for half-off," said Pep. "... We're spoiling ourselves. We don't get to shop very often."

The Public Market opened to crowds that were "as good as they've ever been," said Peter Metcalfe, who organizes the market. The market averages about 7,500 visitors.

A line began forming around 11:30 for the market, which opened at noon.

When Metcalfe first began opening the market at noon on Friday 12 years ago, he learned that many of the bargain shoppers that hit the early morning sales are happy to continue their shopping at the market, he said.

"From then on, Friday has been our busiest day," he said.

Dean Snook, who operates the Mountain Top Wood Shop from his home in Houston, Alaska, has set up shop at the Public Market for the last seven years.

This year his business at the market started off strong, but as of Friday afternoon it was too early to tell how business would fare for the whole weekend, Snook said.

"The people here are very appreciative," Snook said. "... And there's more sophistication here than where I live."

• Christine Schmid can be reached at cschmid@juneauempire.com.