|
|
Tuesday, February 9, 2010 |
Serving Seguin and Guadalupe County since 1888
|
|
|
Marketplace
Sections
Services
Service Center
|
|
 |
|
Local stores offering deals for Black Friday
Published November 26, 2009
Whether looking for clothes or large house household appliances, Seguin is the one stop shopping grounds.
The Chamber of Commerce, Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the city of Seguin have been working on the “Shop Local Shop Seguin” campaign.
And many local businesses are doing what they can entice customers to stick close to home on Black Friday.
Doug Setzer, Sears Hometown Store owner, said his store has almost everything the stores in the larger cities have.
“We don’t have clothing but everything else that can be bought at the mall store can be got here,” he said. “And if we don’t have it we can get it. Shipping only takes a day or two and it’s at no charge to the customer.”
The department store is offering many large household items as highly discounted prices, said Setzer.
“We have a lot of Kenmore conventional laundry pairs that are going to be about half price than they normally are,” he said. “We also have some Samsung High Efficiency pairs that are $1,600.99 down to $999 and we go so far as a Kenmore Trio [refrigerator] at half price and a lot of TVs and other stuff that are going to have sale prices.”
The biggest door buster that Sears is including in their sale is a Kenmore Elite HE3 washer/dryer set that will be reduced by almost $1,300, Setzer said.
“We are take something like the Kenmore Elite HE3 laundry pair, normally $2,299.98 is now $999,” he said.
Setzer said there was about 20 to 30 people waiting in line last year for the store to open and he anticipate there will be more this year.
“We are expecting a lot more because last year we won the ‘Superbowl of retail’ by having the laundry pairs on sale,” he said “Last year we only had one [set on sale] and this year we have about six or seven sets on sale. We were ordering them for several hours for people as they were lined up. I think once you win the Superbowl one year, you are expected to win it the next year.”
Setzer said his store will be opening around the same time as the others to be able to stay in competition with them.
“This year we will be opening at 4 a.m.,” he said. “Last year we opened at 5 a.m. and the year before was 6 a.m.”
Guadalupe Valley Electric Cooperative is not just about electricity this year. After the grand opening of GVEC Home in March, the new appliance center offers many energy efficient items to help save money.
“This is going to be our first Black Friday and we are hoping for a good turnout,” said James Myers, GVEC Home manager. “We are going to have appliances out front to let people know that we are open. There are a lot of people who are still unaware that there is a showroom here that is open, not just to our members, but to the public.”
Myers said the store will have reduced prices on some of their products.
“We have sales on all of our Anolon or kitchen cookware, which includes cooking utensils, knife sets, skillets,” he said. “We will also be having a clearance on our last models, they are still brand new but older model appliances. As well as all Kitchen Aide products, which are your upper-line mixers, toasters, blenders, coffee makers and slow cookers.“
The popular commercial-style mixers will be up for grabs along with a new edition Kitchen Aid came out with.
“Our mixers are the stainless steal Kitchen Aid mixers that most people like,” he said. “The Artisan is in grey white and black will be going for $287 and we have the new 90th Anniversary Edition in candy-apple red with a glass bowl for $329.”
GVEC Home store will be open on Friday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and is offering a free gift wrapping service with any smaller in-store purchases.
While Sears and GVEC may have many large appliances on sale, J.C. Penney will be offering great deals on clothing and a few other “hot items.”
Karen Reed, store manager, said their Black Friday ad is hosting a dozen pages of “door busters” and a eight pages of “big buys”.
“We are going to have our regular door buster event,” she said. “In our ad we have about 12 pages of door busters that will start at 4 a.m. and end at 1 p.m. on Friday and we also have big buys that will be going on all day long. For those who don’t want to shop early, we have coupons for later in the afternoon.”
Weather, Reed speculated, could be the determining factor on just how good sales can be.
“We are kind of expecting it to be good because the weather is going to be kind of cool and people kind of get in the mood when the weather is cool,” she said adding that weather also determines the length of the line. “It depends on if it’s warm or cold. If it’s warm they stand outside, if it’s cold they wait in their cars, but they are out there waiting for the doors to open.”
Reed said Black Friday is an annual event, not just for businesses but for shoppers, as well.
“The associates are really excited and Friday is a great day to have everybody here trying to help and they have a lot of fun with it,” she said. “For the people that come and shop on Black Friday it’s sort of traditional for them and they are really excited and in a good mood and it makes for a really fun shopping atmosphere on that day.”
Over at Wal-Mart, manager Bucky Kalina said his store is looking forward to a very busy morning.
“We’re anticipating a huge crowd,” he said. “We have TV’s and Blue Ray players that are going to be hot this year.”
To ensure everyone’s safety, Kalina said the store would have four police officers on site and a plan laid out for the merchandise.
“I would definitely encourage people to go online and look at the map because we are definitely doing it more organized this year,” he said. “We have nine really hot items and there are going to be a few lines set up where people are going to have to get in line. It won’t be the mad rush for the merchandise.”
The roped areas will be opened for customers to enter after 3 a.m. and the sale prices will go into affect at 5 a.m., Kalina said adding that all 22 check out lanes will be open to help expedite transactions.
Share |
Save |
Mail |
Print |
Comment
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|