Sluggish start to sales season as more shoppers stay home


New Yorkers weren’t gobbling up Thanksgiving Day steals Thursday morning — ditching door-busting deals to stay home with their families and enjoy the holiday. Kmart’s early opening Thursday was a bust, with shelves overflowing with sale items and empty aisles. Its stores across the country started their Black Friday weekend at 6 a.m. and will stay open for 42 straight hours. Most shoppers hitting Old Navy, Gap and Express — which opened between 9 and 10 a.m. — were out-of-towners and tourists. “If the stores weren’t open, there’d be no reason to come out,” said a father from Albany who was shopping with his family in Herald Square. Some customers perusing the sales in Midtown admitted that if they weren’t on vacation, they would be eating instead of shopping. “If we were home, we’d probably be having dinner with the family,” said Katie Plante, 24, of Albany. But the early-bird specials weren’t sweeter than pumpkin pie, with many of Thursday morning’s deals going to waste despite the increase in stores opening their doors on Turkey Day. “We opened at 10, and it was pretty slow,” said a Forever 21 employee. “We had a few customers, but it was slow until the parade got out.” Still, hard-core shopaholics were thankful for an early start to Black Friday. Bargain hunter Judith Bruno, a Manhattan hospital administrator, said she doesn’t feel bad shopping on Thanksgiving and Black Friday because she stays “disciplined the rest of the year.’’ “And then I go crazy,’’ she said, adding she’d spent more than $700 by Thursday afternoon on “retail therapy.’’ Maria Melo, 63, who had put her turkey in the oven and run off for a day of shopping, said she’d settle for “a late Thanksgiving dinner with my family.” “This early start gives me better deals,” she said as she sifted through the sales at Lord & Taylor, adding she plans to head back out after dinner to hit Macy’s and JCPenney. “It is worth it.’’ She wasn’t the only one planning a post-dinner shopping expedition. Macy’s CEO Terry Lundgren said more than 15,000 shoppers — likely a record — were on hand for the store’s 6 p.m. opening. “This year, it’s definitely taking people much longer to get through the front doors,’’ he told USA Today. Ver Mas en: http://nypost.com/2014/11/27/sluggish-start-to-sales-season-as-more-shoppers-stay-home/

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