1 officer, 2 others dead in shooting at Colorado Planned Parenthood, police say.
Shoppers hit stores Friday for the annual national frenzy, drawn by deals on electronics, video games and toys, or just a chance to get out with the family, but some malls seemed less crowded this year, as buyers either made their trek after Thanksgiving dinner or opted to stay home and buy online.A local bike shop and a national outdoor gear chain proudly and defiantly closed their doors on one of the year’s busiest shopping days, gambling that consumers have grown weary of Black Friday and would embrace a new tradition involving hiking, biking and “civility.” Advertising “We are closed” isn’t normally a strategy for attracting future business. A gunbattle erupted inside a Planned Parenthood center here Friday when a man armed with an assault-style rifle opened fire at the clinic and began shooting at officers as they rushed to the scene.
Mike Violette, executive director of the Colorado Fraternal Order of Police, said he can’t recall another incident in Colorado in which six officers were shot. Still others hoped to use the Black Friday spotlight to draw attention to non-shopping issues, such as anger about the killing of a black teenager in Chicago or to push for raising minimum wages. Joe’s and REI independently staged outdoor alternatives to shopping, and both retailers benefited from the unseasonably mild weather that greeted the scores of hikers and bikers who chose to partake. “My wife has a long history of working in retail and told me I was probably crazy,” said Joe Traill, who owns the Joe’s Bike Shop stores in Mount Washington and Fells Point. “I certainly understand why it would be harder for a store like Macy’s or Nordstrom to close on Black Friday. “Having said that, I think it’s unnecessary to open at the crack of dawn or the day before.
Some had already shopped Thursday evening, reflecting a new normal of U.S. holiday shopping, in which stores open up with deals on Thanksgiving itself, rather than waiting until Black Friday. While the infamous brawl videos make Black Friday headlines yet again, like a fight in Kentucky, it’s a much calmer scene at the Towson Town Center, but the crowds are no different.
For hours Friday, officers traded gunfire with the gunman inside the building before they were able to shout to him and persuade him to give up, according to Lt. Between midnight and late Thursday afternoon, officials estimate about $1 billion in online sales, but plenty of customers are still showing up to the malls. “We really don’t see online as competition, per se. Catherine Buckley, a police spokeswoman. “The perpetrator is in custody,” Mayor John Suthers said at an evening news conference. “There is a huge crime scene that has to be processed,” he said, “and we have to determine how many victims there are.” Late Friday night, CBS News reported that law enforcement sources identified the suspect as Robert Lewis Dear, 59. Before the authorities announced the deaths, the police were going room to room to clear the Planned Parenthood clinic Friday night and the conditions of those wounded were not immediately known.
Steve Bratspies, chief merchandising officer at Wal-Mart, said he was not surprised that a store would see thinner crowds on Friday after it kicked off Black Friday deals on Thursday night. Security measures have been beefed up at many malls and stores to cope with the rush of crowds, particularly after a Walmart worker was trampled to death at a store on Long Island in 2008. Later in the morning, more than 1,000 protesters clogged Chicago’s Magnificent Mile shopping corridor. “I shopped online yesterday and picked up most of what I wanted,” she said. “I’m out because Black Friday is more like a tradition, but the discounts are similar even online this year.” While Black Friday may be losing some appeal in the United States, British shoppers have taken to the concept enthusiastically, with reports of large crowds at big stores and malls in the U.K. The shooting came at a time when Planned Parenthood has been criticized because of surreptitious videos of officials discussing using fetal organs for research. Natalie Love, a Highlandtown resident who was shopping at Canton Crossing on Friday morning, said the decision by some stores to close their doors are likely gambits for profit.
Online sales on Thanksgiving grew 26% over last year, driven heavily by mobile devices, which accounted for 40% of online sales, according to IBM Watson Trend, which tracks spending by monitoring millions of transactions from retail websites. According to the National Retail Federation, the nation’s largest retail trade group, nearly 60 percent of shoppers had already started holiday buying by November 10. Analysts at Cowen & Co. said Target stood out with its “innovative promotions,” and teen retailer American Eagle Outfitters Inc. saw more traffic due to store-wide discounts of 40 per cent. Black-clad tactical officers stood guard with guns in hand, ambulances lined up and dozens of shoppers and employees were ordered to lock their businesses’ doors and stay away from the windows.
It also expected about 135.8 million people to be shopping during the four-day weekend, compared with 133.7 million last year. 2015 is the first year that NRF asked about plans to shop on Cyber Monday. The standoff, which began shortly after 11:30 a.m., was terrifying for the family members of those inside, such as Joan Motolinia, who said his sister called him from the center as the shots began. Judging from the crowds so far, though, the shopper numbers could be hard to come by. “The frenzy and traffic levels were subdued,” said Craig Johnson, president of Customer Growth Partners, a retail consultancy. The local authorities were visibly shaken as they stood in the snowy dark to announce that the suspect had been taken into custody and that the siege was over. The number of days reflects the call for pay of $15 an hour and full-time work. • In Rehoboth Beach, Del., Tanger Outlets extended Black Friday hours overnight.
Cathy Alderman, vice president of public affairs for Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, said the group believed all of its staff members were safe, but was still working to confirm the status of its patients. But the extra hours did little to abate the crowds of shoppers who filled the three shopping malls by mid-morning, many driving in circles for 20 minutes or more in search of parking. Officials from law enforcement and Planned Parenthood both said they did not know whether the group’s Colorado Springs center had been specifically targeted.
Jeff Simpson, a principal at Deloitte, also said doorbusters — fat discounts on hot items that once drew shoppers in for store openings — are losing their “umph.” Ten years ago, major retailers would focus on the 10 best items and discount them below costs, he said. Wal-Mart worker group Our Wal-Mart said 1,400 workers planned to fast and protest around the country for better wages, but there was no indication that would hurt sales.
Karol and Randy Kolb of Strasburg, Va., made a trip to the outlets as part of their holiday getaway to Ocean City, Md., not for any bargains or deals. “We already have all our Christmas shopping done,” Randy said. “We came for the people watching.” • In Denver, at the upscale Cherry Creek Shopping Center, where an inch of snow had fallen, large crowds of mostly young women lined up outside H&M and the Victoria’s Secret Pink stores. But the attack carried echoes of other violent assaults on abortion providers, and it prompted the police in New York City to deploy units to Planned Parenthood clinics in the city. Early Black Friday discounts included $700 off a 60-inch Samsung television at Best Buy for $799.99, 20 per cent off a $75 purchase at Target, and a Kindle for $49.99 on Amazon.com. What was Krista Gwidt of Denver going to buy? “A hundred dollars of something,” she said with a smile, clutching her $100-off coupon. • Even small stores got in on the act.
Bryan Hawke, 35, a chiropractor who was holed up with six others in his one-story brick-fronted chiropractic office that is across the parking lot from Planned Parenthood said the center is the scene of near-daily protests. “There are protests of varying sizes outside that building probably six days a week,” he said. Dana Bursik, assistant manager at South Moon Under, said that business had been good. “We always do Black Friday sales,” she said. “This is my third and its been better each year.” • In Vauxhall, N.J., the fog-shrouded parking lot outside a Target was a virtual ghost town just after 6 a.m. Inside, some aisles had more red-garbed store employees than customers. “We didn’t know if they were open” said Noel Sweeney of Springfield N.J., who has taken a Black Friday jaunt with her cousin, Dana Migliozzi, every year for the past 15 years. “We come for fun,” she said. But Sweeney said she appreciated the calm after the likely shopping storm the night before when the earliest bargain hunters prowled the stores. “It’s good because they start the night before,” she says, “so by the time we come, the aisles are clear and there are no crowds.” Their red cart, which filled up during their visit, included $4.99 finger lights, and pajamas.
According to retailers, shoppers were snapping up iPads at Target, movies, toys, TVs and gaming systems at Walmart and active apparel, kitchen appliances and luggage at Macy’s. Shortly after the Fashion Centre at Pentagon City mall in Arlington, Va., opened at 6 a.m., just a handful of people had gathered in the food court. “We had a robust crowd here beginning at 6 o’clock last night,” said Todd Jerscheid, the mall’s marketing director. In a sign of the mixed messages some consumers are sending retailers, Kim Day, of Gloucester, Va., waited a half-hour in line at a Target in Falls Church to buy a Galaxy Note 5 phone, for a penny. William Taubman, chief operating officer at Taubman Centers, which operates more than 20 U.S. malls, said that without a clear trend in fashion, there’s less of an urgency to buy. About two hours after the first reports of gunshots, Hoang said three officers were still posted outside his front door, one of them brandishing a shotgun.
That’s something Keith Nelson noticed as he stood in line on Thanksgiving, waiting for Toys R Us’ 5 p.m. open: “Lines used to be longer, people would be sleeping and bringing lounge chairs out here,” he said.