By COLIN M. STEWART
By COLIN M. STEWART
Tribune-Herald staff writer
So long, Black Friday, we hardly knew ye.
Hello, Black Thursday.
As retailers continue to cash in earlier and earlier on holiday shoppers’ bargain-hunting frenzy, traditional seasonal boundaries are falling by the wayside.
Major retailers on Hawaii Island — such as Target, Sears, Kmart, Macy’s and Walmart — will all open their doors on Thanksgiving, with many offering their “door-buster” specials earlier than ever before.
Standard-bearing “big box” retailer Walmart is once again leading the charge, having announced its stores across the country will remain open on Thanksgiving. Other retailers are following suit, sliding back the times that big-ticket items at various stores will be offered at rock-bottom prices.
In Hilo, Walmart will open its doors to shoppers at 5 a.m. Thursday and remain open until Christmas Eve, when it will close at 8 p.m. Special guaranteed, in-store specials on items will be on offer beginning at 6 p.m. Thanksgiving Day. In an effort to prevent overcrowding in areas, some items will be offered at different times on special and will have one-hour in-stock guarantees with shoppers being able to collect a ticket and return later for the items.
Known as “doorbusters,” the big-ticket items — often electronics — are usually sold at a loss for the retailers, who bet on making up the difference by attracting and keeping shoppers in the store as they seek out other gift items.
As listed on BlackFriday.com, Walmart’s national Black Friday advertising section includes doorbusters such as a 32-inch Vizio HDTV for $98, an iPad mini for $299, or a selection of Blu-ray Discs and DVDs for as little as $3.96.
Meanwhile, Macy’s, Sears and Target stores in Hilo will open their doors to bargain-seekers at 8 p.m. Thursday evening, and remain open through the evening and into Friday.
The trend of stretching the holiday shopping season even extends to the smaller retailers and mom-and-pop stores situated near the larger, “anchor stores,” said Kimberly Shimabuku, general manager at Prince Kuhio Plaza.
“Most definitely, we are noticing it with a lot of the other stores opening earlier and earlier,” she said. “Almost all of them are opening up Thursday, except for a select few. … It only makes sense for the smaller stores to open because the crowd is already here. We’ve seen it in past years, and it’s growing. More and more I see the smaller stores following the bigger stores.”
The shopping crunch also has a halo effect for surrounding shops in the mall, such as the food vendors, Shimabuku said.
“They never used to be open, and we were here for many years in a row with hungry shoppers as they waited for the next doorbuster,” she said. “We asked several of our merchants to open up, and they did really well, and now a majority of our eateries are opening up.”
Beginning the sales earlier is all about meeting customer demand and prolonging the holiday shopping period at a time when competition is fierce and consumers have more information at their fingertips than ever before, said Sheri Sakamoto, president of the Retail Merchants of Hawaii.
“Our consumers are so much smarter now,” she said. “They can go online anytime, anywhere, and look at the prices. They’re easily accessible for them.”
While Sakamoto couldn’t provide an estimate for how Big Island retailers might fare this year, she said that the state as a whole could be in line with the rest of the nation.
“I’m cautiously optimistic,” she said. “Looking at various numbers, I think there will be some increase (compared to sales posted during last year’s holiday shopping period). We already know that there will be an increase in e-commerce sales, and the National Retail Federation has predicted a 3.9 percent increase in national sales over last year. I’m not sure if we (the state as a whole) will reach that level, but that would be great.”
While some groups have decried the increased commercialization of the holiday season, Sakamoto said that economies that were hard hit by the recession can’t afford to pass up an opportunity for growth — especially when retailers rely on the holidays to provide as much as 40 percent of their annual revenue. The Big Island employs about 9,000 full- and part-time retail workers, and that number will likely grow during the next month as stores add to their ranks to meet the increased demand.
“For all the retailers, it’s great that they’ll have more hours for sales. It provides more for the economy,” she said.
As for marketing strategy, Sakamoto said merchants should seek to accentuate their strengths and stand out from competitors.
“We’re encouraging our retailers to differentiate themselves. We’re telling them, ‘Look at your customer base, and figure out what it is that’s being purchased at your local stores and really provide extreme customer service.’ That’s the difference between smaller, local companies and the big stores. They can be more flexible and make changes faster.”
She added that one local company that has been very successful in following that formula has been Retail Merchants of Hawaii member Big Island Candies.
“If you look at a company like Big Island Candies in Hilo, they’ve been able to get a big customer base not only in Asian countries but European countries as well. But, because they are locally made, they can tailor their product mix to the individual needs of their customers there in Hilo,” she said.
Email Colin M. Stewart at cstewart@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
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Holiday Shopping Store Hours
Walmart: Open 5 a.m. Thursday-8 p.m. Dec. 24. The store will be closed Christmas Day.
Macy’s: Open 8 p.m. Thursday-10 p.m. Friday
Kmart in Kona: Open 7 p.m. Thursday-1 a.m. Friday, and again Friday from 5 a.m.-11 a.m.
Sears: Open 8 p.m. Thursday-10 p.m. Friday
Target: Open 8 p.m. Thursday-11 p.m. Friday
Home Depot: Open 5 a.m.-9 p.m. Thursday, specials begin 6 a.m.-9 p.m. Friday
Sports Authority: Open 6 p.m.-12 a.m. Thursday and 6 a.m.-12 a.m. Friday
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Prince Kuhio Plaza
Not all retailers in the mall will be open both Thursday and Friday. For a complete listing of the merchants and their store hours, visit http://www.princekuhioplaza.com/holiday-hours.