Athens residents just aren’t that into Black Friday shopping, economists and local business owners say, and the few deals out there don’t snowball into more deals at other venues.
The main source of Black Friday activity in Athens tends to come from Walmart, 929 E. State St. The superstore will have numerous new sales that are anticipated to be very lucrative, but Wal-Mart’s success and crowds during the event and the following weekend don’t trickle down to the other businesses Uptown.
“It’s not really a huge change from an average Friday, Saturday or weekend,” said Ellie Dudding, a sales clerk at Artifacts Gallery, 2 W. State St. “We don’t promote any sales or anything; we open up at the same time. Athens isn’t too big of a city, so we don’t have a lot of the same draw to Black Friday as other places do. People don’t really think about it.”
Dudding added that she believes Wal-Mart, one of the nation’s biggest promoters of Black Friday sales, is trying to get Ohio University students and local residents involved in the event — mostly to no avail.
“I don’t think (Wal-Mart) really changed the community’s attitude towards Black Friday,” she said. “Even if it did, since it’s on the other side of town, it doesn’t come down here on Court Street.”
But Wal-Mart is still a big, if not the biggest, player in keeping Black Friday alive in Athens, said Christin Tripp, venture analytics associate and economics professor at OU.
“I would think that the information from Wal-Mart being dispersed to people is more likely to be heard than maybe the individual little stores here that don’t have a marketing budget or make national news,” Tripp said. “I absolutely think that that keeps Black Friday alive.”
James Stotter, an economics professor at OU, agrees.
“Wal-Mart is one of those who’s pushing towards Black Thursday as well as Black Friday by opening on Thanksgiving evening,” Stotter said.
Tripp said local customers who buy gifts for family and friends are drivers of the event. And students, even though most leave for Thanksgiving break, still have a role in Black Friday based on where they shop, Stotter said.
“If you go home to, say, Cleveland, Columbus or Cincinnati, you would have a larger selection. Then you look at the stores in Athens,” Stotter said.
“Where would you shop?”
This article appeared in print under the headline "Court Street misses out on Black Friday hype"
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