Tribune reporters Sandra M. Jones, Kayce Ataiyero, Julie Wernau and Angie Leventis Lourgos and freelance writer Robert Channick were at local stores and malls to keep tabs on Black Friday, the official start of the holiday shopping season today. Read their reports HERE.
Some signs indicated that retailers were seeing consumers unwilling to spend all year come out to buy. But regular shoppers at the Macy’s on State Street said the lines for the Walnut Room, a tradition since the days of Marshall Field & Co., were about the same this year, but the store seemed less crowded.
About midday, a 3-year-old pointed at a giant brown dragon in the Macy’s toy section and asked, “Can we get that?” Grandmother answereed, saying “No, that has to stay here.”
The purse strings appear a little tighter for shoppers this winter, and the line for Santa is shorter. An elf-costumed employee said that the line was about one to two hours, down from around three last year.
But Scott and Sarah Lambdin and their two boys from South Bend, Ind., said they only had to wait about 25 minutes.”We like the lighter downtown traffic and crowds,” Scott said. “Though the mayor probably doesn’t.”
