Sometimes it takes Mother Nature to get people shopping.
Several major retailers in Clallam County reported an increase in sales during the post-Thanksgiving shopping blitz Friday compared with the same day last year, with the game changer apparently being the weather.
Many shoppers said they tend to stay away from the stores the day after Thanksgiving, known by some as Black Friday, but decided to join in this year simply to fight the cabin fever brought on by last week’s snowstorm.
“I just wanted to get out of the house,” said Kris Reetz, 42, who was shopping at the Alley Cat in downtown Port Angeles.
Reetz said she has stayed away from shopping the day after Thanksgiving in the past to avoid the crowds.
Debbie Hilt, 58, said she also isn’t a fan of the no-holds-barred behavior typically associated with the shopping day.
“I don’t like crowds,” she said while shopping at the Walmart Supercenter in Port Angeles.
Asked why she chose the biggest shopping day of the year, Hilt, who had been snowed in for three days, said bluntly, “Because I could get out.”
But there were also shoppers who are veterans of the day traditionally given over to the first big sales of the Christmas holiday season.
Tiffany Adams, while shopping at the Walmart Supercenter in Port Angeles that morning, said she had already been at the Walmart in Sequim at midnight.
Adams, 31, said she got a few hours of sleep in between and participates in the shopping spree for the deals.
“Everything is on sale dirt-cheap,” she said.
Paul Quinn, manager of the JCPenney store in Sequim, said the melting snow could have prompted more to shop, or simply shop locally.
“I honestly think the weather had a factor in all of this,” he said.
“Maybe they didn’t run off to some distant mall, and they stayed and shop locally.”
Quinn said sales were up 20 percent compared with the same day last year as of 3 p.m., with “basic items” such as jeans, blankets and slippers selling the most.
About 300 people were waiting outside the doors when the store opened at 4 a.m., he said. That’s an increase of about 50.
Swain’s General Store in Port Angeles also saw more bargain-hungry customers when it opened.
Don Droz, store manager, said between 150 and 200 people were waiting outside when the doors opened at 4:30 a.m.
He said that is “probably twice as much” as last year.
Shawn Price, store supervisor, estimated that sales were up between 15 and 20 percent compared with the same day last year.
As of about 11 a.m., Swain’s was still fairly full of shoppers, many taking advantage of the free coffee and doughnuts offered.
One of those shoppers, Marilyn Venegas of Seattle, said she never shops the day after Thanksgiving but makes an exception when she is in Clallam County visiting family and can visit Swain’s General Store.
“I only shop on Black Friday if I can go to Swain’s,” she said, adding that shoppers are too aggressive in Seattle.
At the Walmart Supercenter, many shoppers were taking advantage of sales on electronics.
Employee Melissa Cooter said the store was sold out of 32-inch flat-screen TVs, Nintendo DSs and eMachines laptops by about 10:30 a.m.
Bill Sperry, 70, of Forks, who bought the last Nikon L110 camera, said he had never shopped on Black Friday before but was motivated to make the trip after seeing Walmart’s sales advertised in the Peninsula Daily News.
“It looks like there are some good deals,” he said, while flipping through the insert.
Walmart supervisors in Port Angeles and Sequim declined to comment on sales and how many people showed up when prices dropped at 5 a.m.
Forks Outfitters, the largest retailer in Forks, had about the same amount of sales as last year, said store Manager Dave Gedlund.
He said the Walmart Supercenter, which opened last month, may have been why sales didn’t increase.
“Had there still been snow on the roads, more people would have stayed in Forks and probably shopped,” Gedlund said.
In downtown Port Angeles, a handful of shoppers could be seen walking down the streets Friday morning.
“It’s usually what you see downtown,” said April Bellerud, owner of Odyssey Bookshop.
Port Angeles Downtown Association Executive Director Barb Frederick said the day after Thanksgiving usually isn’t a big shopping day downtown, since most shoppers visit the major retailers.
But even without a lot of foot traffic, Brown’s Outdoor and Maurices said they were seeing more shoppers this year.
Erik Brown, co-manager of Brown’s Outdoor, attributed it to a storewide sale, which hadn’t been tried before, and an increase in advertising.
Sales at downtown stores decreased last holiday season because of the closure of Gottschalks in May 2009, Frederick said. She said sales will likely remain flat this year.
“I hope it’s better,” Frederick said.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.