10 The Queens Courier • DECEMBER 5, 2013 for breaking news visit www.queenscourier.com SHOP TIL YOU DROP Boro comes out in force for holiday deals BY LIAM LA GUERRE AND CRISTABELLE TUMOLA [email protected] Ridgewood resident Brian Astacio stood three hours in line for the Best Buy in Queens Place Mall in Elmhurst to open at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day to buy electronics and a big-screen TV. “The stressful part is actually the waiting,” he said. “It’s good in a way because you get things you always wanted for cheap.” Customers spent on average $407 this year, down from $423 a year before, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF). However, more than 141 million shoppers went to stores nationwide, up from 139 million last year, NRF data shows. For the first time ever, Macy’s, one of the country’s largest and oldest department chains, opened on Thanksgiving Day at 8 p.m. About 20 minutes before it was about to open in Queens Center, the line for the retailer stretched to more than 200 people and that was just on the first floor entrance. Another line of hundreds of shoppers waited near the doors on the second floor. “It’s become more of a culture thing,” said Maspeth resident Maryam Wasef, who was first in line at the Macy’s. “It’s interesting, because it’s the only time of the year you can get everything and everyone just saves for it.” The shopping craze continued over the weekend with Small Business Saturday, when local retailers offered discounts to attract customers, and then Cyber Monday, the top online sale day. Karma apparel and fashion on Bell Boulevard in Bayside held a Small Business Saturday event that drew more than 100 people. Owner Margaret Papacosta said patrons came to shop for clothes and handbags that were 30 percent off. Patrons enjoyed food donated by local eateries and Papacosta raffled off special gift certificates for other neighborhood stores. “The atmosphere was great. It was amazing,” Papacosta said. “We wanted customers to get a feel of all the businesses on Bell Boulevard.” Although average spending per shopper declined on Black Friday, it was a record-breaking Cyber Monday for online shoppers. December 2 was the biggest online buying day in history, with a 20.6 increase in online sales over last year, according to IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark. Cyber Monday also marked the highest five-day Internet sales period on record – from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday – with a 16.5 percent increase over 2012, according to IBM. IBM also found that New York was the top city for sales on the popular online shopping day. Vintage Robot, a Queens based website selling Made in America robot apparel and robotic accessories made from recycled materials, has seen an increase of about 20 percent in sales between Black Friday and Cyber Monday for the two years it has been in business, said owner Chris Iannelli. Iannelli offered customers 20 percent off during the Cyber Monday period. “A lot of people don’t want to shop in the craziness of Black Friday,” he said, noting it’s one reason they are turning to more online retailers like himself. THE COURIER/Photos by Liam La Guerre The Black Friday weekend drew millions of shoppers to special deals. Photo courtesy of IBM Cyber Monday was a record-breaking day of online shopping.
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