- Now,
- We went to Brooklyn's Atlantic Terminal Mall to see how the in-store shopping scene had changed. It was desolate.
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I went to a mall on Black Friday — and it confirmed the holiday isn't the shopping bonanza it once was
We went to Brooklyn's Atlantic Terminal Mall to see how Black Friday shopping had changed in the age of e-commerce and year-round discounts.
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Black Friday sales are surging, but you wouldn't know it by visiting Brooklyn's Atlantic Terminal Mall.
When its anchor store, Target, opened at 6 a.m. on Black Friday, I went to see for myself how the crowds compared to what I remembered from my childhood days in the 1990s.
I found a meager line outside, waiting for the mall to open, and even fewer people outside of Target and Best Buy. See what shoppers were buying — and how desolate it looked — below.
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I arrived at the Atlantic Terminal Mall just before 6 a.m., and it was still dark out. Stores inside this mall include Target, Victoria's Secret, Best Buy, Uniqlo, Game Stop, and Marshalls.
The first store to open was Bath & Body Works. It had been open since 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving evening and will close at midnight on Friday.
The shoppers inside had already purchased items from J.C. Penney, Kmart, Gap, and Macy's.
Target had been open the night before, from 6 p.m. until midnight. This morning, it was opening at 6. About 100 people or fewer were lined up outside to get in.
As promised, the doors opened right at 6, and we all quickly got inside. I was the last person in a line, and with so much railing unnecessarily set up for crowd control, it made the line look even smaller.
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Not hunting for anything in particular, I followed the group.
Everyone seemed to be going upstairs, so I followed.
Unsurprisingly, they were all headed for the electronics section.
Target was having a massive sale on TVs. Additional product was placed on the first floor near the lingerie department.
As I watched the shoppers, I realized almost everyone was buying a TV.
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It was either the 32-inch Seiki ...
... or two 32-inch Seikis ...
... or the LG UHD 55-inch TV ...
... or the 65-inch Samsung.
There were other sales going on in the store, but not as many shoppers seemed to care.
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The second-busiest department was the toys section.
Railings were set up for line control inside, too, but two employees I spoke with confirmed that last night was about the same as far as the number of shoppers. As you can see, there weren't a ton.
The interior of the mall was somewhat desolate.
Victoria's Secret also opened at 6 a.m., but aside from the loud music, it was quiet in there as well.
GameStop, which opened at 6 a.m., seemed to have a decent number of shoppers inside its already small store.
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My next stop was Best Buy, which opened at 8 a.m. and had a line of about 100 people out front.
As I waited, two employees came around announcing that the Toshiba 55-inch TV was already sold out from last night's store hours. Upon hearing that news, some people bailed on the line. Both of the men I was standing with were in line for a TV, a laptop, and tablet.
Once inside, I immediately noticed the number of TVs placed out on the floor.
The shoppers did, too.
Within minutes, Insigna-Roku televisions were being put onto carts ...
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... as well as 32-inch Vizios.
On my way back to see if the Target crowds had grown, I passed by a very empty Marshalls.
I passed one more line on my way back. Curious to know which TV they were looking to buy, I asked and learned it was a line for the Department of Motor Vehicles, which is also located in the Atlantic Terminal Mall.
While a few more shoppers had shown up by around 9:00, and stores such as Payless Shoes and Verizon had opened, the crowds, especially compared to the amount of products, were still scarce.
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