Retailers are anxious to see how the still-fragile economy will affect holiday shoppers. Many stores for the first time will use Thursday evening or midnight openings to lure customers, the hope being that those unwilling to wake up for early doorbuster deals on a Friday might stay up late on a Thursday. Some stores have seen backlash for their planned early opening, but record numbers are expected in spite of that.
A recent report from the National Retail Federation predicts an estimated 152 million people to shop over Black Friday weekend, up 10% from last year. Even with optimistic predictions, economists and business executives are still nervous. Scott Hoyt, senior director of consumer economics for Moody’s Analytics, said, “A bad holiday season would raise recession fears again, whereas a strong one would start to dispel those fears.”
