‘Black Friday’ shoppers flock to Vail Valley Wal-Mart store
Vail, CO, Colorado
The lines started forming at 1 a.m., and the bargain TVs were gone in about an hour.
That’s the story, in a nutshell, of Black Friday shopping at the Vail Valley’s Wal-Mart store. Shoppers reported the store’s parking lot was virtually full just after 5 a.m., when the big sale started. But people arriving even as late as that may have missed some of the store’s advertised bargains.
Wal-Mart doesn’t allow its employees to speak on the record, but one of the Avon store’s managers bargain-seekers started arriving about 1 a.m. Those seeking specific deals started lining up in the various departments, and people in line were given vouchers entitling them to one of the advertised items. Only as many vouchers were given as there were items available.
The action really peaked about 6 a.m., the manager said. But by 10 a.m. Friday, the store was pretty much back to normal.
Just down the street, Avon’s Home Depot store was reporting brisk, if not door-busting business.
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Interviewed just before noon Friday, store manager Chris Dietrich said his shop still had a limited supply of its advertised specials, the biggest of which was a wet-dry vacuum cleaner that usually retails for $99 on sale for just $20.
“I’d say our business is about even with (Black Friday) of last year,” Dietrich said. “I’d say we were steady, but not really busy.
“But it was a madhouse at Wal-Mart earlier,” he added.
Business Editor Scott N. Miller can be reached at 970-748-2930 or smiller@vaildaily.com.
