Fearing empty shelves, Black Friday ‘early birds’ head to U.S. stores

By Richa Naidu and Arriana McLymore

CHICAGO (Reuters) -With many major U.S. retailers opening their doors to shoppers at 5 a.m. on Friday, early risers ventured out, hoping to find gifts to tuck under the Christmas tree before products sell out.

The day after the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, known as Black Friday https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/with-us-inventories-tight-black-friday-drags-through-november-2021-11-23, officially kicks off the year-end shopping season https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/investors-watch-retail-stocks-us-holiday-shopping-beckons-2021-11-24. In most past years, retailers have hosted ‘doorbuster’ discounts of 50%-or-more-off everything from clothing and toys to TVs, prompting shoppers to line up for blocks outside stores and crowd into malls to scramble for deals.

Francisco Martinez, 22, a delivery driver was one of over 100 people standing outside a Walmart (NYSE:) Supercenter in the Kilbourn Park neighborhood of Chicago before 5 am in 20 degree Fahrenheit (-7 degree Celsius) weather.

“I want to get a 65 inch Element TV – it’s $350 off,” said Martinez, who was wearing three layers of clothing. “I think I’m going to get it – it’s not as crowded as it used to be a few years ago.”

While people waited in line, a Walmart worker handed out coupons for items like Apple (NASDAQ:) AirPods, Apple watches and Gateway laptops. Walmart store worker Daniella Rangel, 19, came into work at 2 am to restock shelves and prepare for the morning rush.

But as online shopping has taken off, Black Friday crowds have dwindled, particularly in 2020 when people were still unvaccinated and worried about COVID-19.

Regardless, early queues were expected, with some shoppers worried that an ongoing supply chain logjam https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/containergeddon-supply-crisis-drives-walmart-rivals-hire-their-own-ships-2021-10-07 might prevent retailers from stocking sought-after items such as Hoverboard scooters, Nerf toys, Oculus Quest 2 headsets, AirPods Pro earbuds, and MacBook Air laptops.

Walmart , Best Buy and Target (NYSE:) this year did not require shoppers who have been vaccinated to wear masks, but some indoor malls kept existing mask requirements https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/major-us-companies-making-masks-vaccines-mandatory-2021-07-30.

A report by consumer research platform Attest showed about two-thirds of 1,000 people surveyed on Nov. 13 were comfortable shopping in-person despite the ongoing pandemic.

“People are looking to get back to normal,” said Rod Sides, Deloitte’s U.S. retail leader. “The early online birds, and the birds that went into the store, may get the worm.”

A Deloitte survey…