Shoppers were out in full force throughout the Killeen-Harker Heights area on Black Friday, hunting for deep discounts as stores opened early for the biggest shopping day of the year.
Target, which is located in Market Heights, was particularly busy on Friday morning with the parking lot nearly full, lines at the checkout area and people milling throughout the store.
One of those shoppers was Tiara Boquiren, who decided to venture out this year despite not being a big Black Friday shopper. “I honestly never go Black Friday shopping,” she said, elaborating that a friend convinced her to go this year.
She said they were planning to stop at a few different stores in Market Heights, but Target was a standout. “We love Target,” she said. “There’s just so many things to look at.” While Boquiren was not shopping for anything in particular, she said she always ends up finding something to purchase at Target.
With the Christmas shopping season officially underway, the Harker Heights Police Department’s Operation Safe Shopper is now in full force for major retail complexes in Harker Heights.
Since its establishment in 2008, HHPD’s mobile command until has patrolled two major districts in Harker Heights, which include the Market Heights shopping complex, Wal-Mart, H-E-B and Sam’s Club, beginning on Black Friday.
The van is intended to help deter crime and promote safety among residents in the area.
A record 183.4 million people are expected to shop over the Thanksgiving weekend, according to a press release from the National Retail Federation earlier this month. That is a slight increase over the 182 million that were projected to shop last year.
Of those shoppers, 131.7 million planned to shop on Black Friday, which easily made it the biggest shopping day of the weekend. Sixty-five percent, or nearly two-thirds, of those customers were going to shop in store, while the rest planned to shop online.
The Killeen Mall, Walmart and other big-box retailers — along with local small businesses — were all targets for shoppers during the annual Black Friday event.
The Killeen Mall opened at 8 a.m. Friday — two hours earlier than usual — and by 9 a.m. a steady stream of shoppers were seen bouncing from store to store.
Local shopper Markeada Smith was at Bath & Body Works in the mall shortly after 9 a.m. Friday, but she woke up and started shopping at the Killeen Kohl’s hours earlier.
“From here, we’re going to go to Burlington and Ross … We woke up at 6 and got there (Kohls) maybe around 6:45 a.m.” Smith said. “It’s the first time we actually got up and physically went to the stores.”
“I’m kind of just gliding around to see what deals are out there, come out, take advantage of the deals because you don’t know how long they’ll last,” said James Diaz, a California resident shopping in the Killeen Mall on Friday.
The National Retail Federation reported that biggest reason for shopping over the weekend was the deals, which 57% of people said were too good to pass up. Other popular reasons for shopping included it being a tradition and a desire to buy gifts for the holidays.
One local shopper looking for gifts on Friday was Jimmy Lawrence, who was Black Friday shopping for the first time. “I’m doing early present shopping,” he said. Lawrence had started his day buying gifts at a video game store and by mid-morning he was headed to Best Buy to finish shopping. He indicated the store’s price for Amazon Fire TV Sticks were particularly good, saying, “It’s on a good deal.”
Both Best Buy and The Home Depot in Killeen were popular places to be on Friday. Both places had pretty full stores and parking lots. At Best Buy, an associate sat near the door passing out a sheet with Black Friday information, while at The Home Depot the buzzing of a saw could be heard in the garden area as staff groomed Christmas trees for people looking to get their holiday decorating started.