Valley shoppers flood stores; retailers hope for cash infusion

McALLEN — The shopping team huddled at the edge of the Best Buy parking lot late Friday morning, alongside a 25-foot trailer filled with toys, video games and just about everything else on a child’s wish list.

Francisco Flores, 49, appeared excited and spirited, even though the Black Friday campaign was entering its 10th hour. The owner of a home healthcare company, Flores, along with more than dozen of his employees, had braved long lines and dense to crowds to spend thousands of dollars on less fortunate children in Starr County.

“We ended up finding stuff that we thought we wouldn’t get,” Flores said from the edge of the parking lot at the Palms Crossing shopping center in McAllen. “All the effort (we) put into it comes back 10,000 fold when you see the kids’ faces.”

At stores across the Rio Grande Valley on Friday, shoppers overcame turkey fatigue and flooded the retailers on one of the busiest shopping days of the year.

Whether Friday’s day-after-Thanksgiving start to the Christmas shopping season jumpstarted sales for retailers and signaled the end of slumping revenues remains to be seen. Still, in October, retail sales rose by 1.4 percent, after a 2.3 percent decline in September, which beat industry estimates, according to U.S. Department of Commerce figures.

At the Rio Grande Valley Premium Outlets, thousands thronged stores all night in search of deals on clothes, toys or electronics. A band even played holiday music for the huddled masses who endured temperatures in the 40s.

Angelina Martinez, 52, of Guadalajara, Mexico, slumped on a bench outside a Puma apparel store in the midmorning after hours of shopping. Plastic bags filled with 43 pairs of shoes she planned to sell in Mexico surrounded her.
Thousands of Mexico shoppers, who retailers count on to spend millions annually, had descended on the Valley for Friday’s festivities.

“The sales were good,” Marintez said in Spanish.

There were no major reported problems — only a few minor car accidents in shopping center parking lots, occasional shoplifting and reports of shoppers running and shoving to grab early-morning deals, said McAllen Police Officer Gaston Balli.

Balli said the presence of many off-duty officers working security at malls and departments stores helped as a deterrent. An eight-year veteran of the force, he also said the mania of years’ past on Black Fridays has subdued a bit.

“Each year it’s gotten calmer because of more and more online deals,” said Balli as he cruised through McAllen’s La Plaza Mall parking lot. Balli also blamed a usual scapegoat: the economy.

But by the afternoon at La Plaza Mall, shoppers rubbed elbows as they moved through the crowd. At stores and corners of the mall where traffic was light, the signs of rabid shoppers were apparent.

JCPenney’s men’s section was torn asunder, despite the many employees who struggled to keep the merchandise folded and organized. Emiliano Molina, 21, stood inside the doorway to the department store. He was trying to find a cell phone signal to call his mother and sister who were somewhere in the mass of shoppers.

Back at the outlet store, 33-year-old Karen Lopez, from Mexico City, trailed her companions, struggling under the weight of bags filled with designer clothes. Lopez had waited since 9 p.m. Thursday for stores to open, and has since taken just a few breaks to lighten her load of merchandise.

“You should see our hotel room,” she said laughing.

Sean Gaffney covers business, the economy and general assignments for The Monitor. He can be reached at (956) 683-4434.

Ana Ley covers law enforcement and general assignments for The Monitor. She can be reached at (956) 693-4428.

The Valley Morning Star along with Monitor reporter Nick Pipitone contributed to this story.