The holiday shopping season is upon us, and while there are changes this year, shoppers still went on the search for deals on Black Friday.
“I expect good deals. I think they’re trying to lure people in," said Katherine Lyons of Plainville.
Lyons went to Westfarms with her daughter and granddaughter in search of Black Friday deals.
“Bath and Body Works is definitely one of my stores I want to go to. I think they’re going to have really great deals," Ava Piotrowski of Plainville said.
It's the first time they've gone to Westfarms to shop instead of a big box store.
“We figured we might find better deals and we realize a lot of people aren’t coming out so the stores might have a better deal and get a lot more stores done in one shot," JoAnne Piotrowski, who also lives in Plainville, explained.
Local
They brought along face masks and hand saniztier.
Inside Westfarms, shoppers will see more cleaning of high-touch surfaces, social distancing signage and spaced out seating.
Lauren Putnam took the opposite approach and went to the big box stores.
Lauren Putnam, Bristol: (35:18) “First we went to Best Buy and then a few other stores. We’re looking for toys right now, but earlier we were looking at the google stuff and electronics and TVs and stuff like that," Putnam told NBC Connecticut.
She was in search of Legos for her 7-year-old brother and found what we was after.
“It’s really dead. It’s super dead like we went to Best Buy earlier and we got in within five minutes and I mean what we wanted within two minutes. It’s really different this year," she said.
The early morning crowd at Best Buy was less fortunate though. They waited hours overnight hoping to snag the new PlayStation 5 or Xbox X.
“We got here at 10 and we’re in line for the PS5," Dan Taggart of Suffield said.
“It’s like a new generation of it. Everybody wants the new thing," Jon Perez of West Hartford said.
“It’s sold out everywhere, so I’d say everyone’s kind of here in person for supply and demand, just hoping the nearest retailer has them restocked already for today," West Hartford resident Brad Morales said.
Best Buy did not have those items restocked and said as soon as they become available to pre-order, they're selling out fast.
Customers are urged to plan their trip in advance, buy online and do curbside pickup, or figure out what you want so you can spend less time browsing in the store.
