Black Friday shoppers try to buy ahead as the holiday season begins
Locals are taking advantage of Black Friday deals but were the deals worth the time - Vince Ybarra reports
IMPERIAL COUNTY, Calif. (KECY, KYMA) - Several shoppers are trying to catch deals, from electronics to shopping ahead for Christmas, locals have had an active Black Friday.
“Mostly, get the same thing every year, either electronics or an updated electronic,” said Andres Piceno, an Imperial County resident.
Piceno said he woke up early to find deals on Friday.
“We started at like what, six or seven today. We went to Wal-Mart here in El Centro and then the Wal-Mart in Brawley,” said Piceno.
He said a necessity while shopping till you drop is coffee, fueling up on Starbucks while hunting down Black Friday sales.
He shared his wife and daughter shop for clothing items, while his son and he shop for electronics. One must-have item on his list this year, a new stereo soundbar for his television.
For some folks, Black Friday is about shopping ahead for Christmas.
Maria Garcia-Avila, a Yuman, said Christmas gifts are what brought her all the way to Imperial County to shop.
“We’ve been looking all morning for Christmas gifts because, um, with kind of last-minute shopping, we’ve heard a lot of the shortages of stuff around and so we didn’t want to wait any longer,” said Garcia-Avila.
She said she likes to check items out in-person versus online shopping. But deals this year seem to be low compared to previous Black Fridays.
“We’ve been looking around at some of the prices and it’s not that big of a sale this year, we have noticed a bit of a difference. What we have seen a lot is that a lot of the shelves are empty,” said Garcia-Avila.
She shared some stores even have less variety of items, and shelves seem to be empty. But it was still worth the drive from Yuma, she was able to share quality shopping time with family.
Businesses in the area said the amount of folks shopping this year is down compared to other years but there is hope business will pick up as the holiday shopping season continues.
