Her alarm clock will ring at 3 a.m. on the day after Thanksgiving. Sophomore Gina Genco will dress quickly, selecting the best walking shoes she owns. She and her mother will then crawl into the car and drive straight to Castleton Square Mall in the hopes of finding the lowest prices of the year.

“All the sales and bargains,” Genco said. “That’s always something to look forward to. It’s nice to have one day of the year dedicated to roaming stores and finding low prices.”

Genco will join 150 million other shoppers across America on the day many refer to as Black Friday. According to ShopperTrak, a research firm that calculates shopping trends, the famous day after Thanksgiving accounted for approximately 6 percent of the overall holiday revenue last year, making it the biggest shopping day of the year in both sales and customer traffic.

Ashley Powell, an assistant manager at the American Eagle store in the Castleton Square Mall, said details of their plans for Black Friday are still completely unknown, both to her and to the public.

“Corporate is keeping it in tight wraps right now,” Powell said. “We actually don’t know what is being planned. And that’s the case for most retailers. They don’t reveal their new products until the week or two before.”

According to Powell, American Eagle often finds inspiration each year in other stores.

“We wait to see what other retailers are doing as well, and we base our store around some of those ideas, like unique products or store design,” Powell said.

Genco said her only complaints about last year’s shopping day were the chaos inside the stores and the hectic sensation she felt as she walked through the shopping mall.

“People were stampeded and there was so much havoc and chaos,” she said. “I hope there’s more space and organization this year, because the chaos makes the shopping feel like a requirement rather than an option.”

Despite the economic recession America has been consumed in, Genco said, “I think that this year, more people will be out shopping since the recession has died down a bit.”
And sure enough, the experts think so too.

According to an article from the Washington Post

, the retail industry last year recorded an increase of approximately 134 million in shoppers. ShopperTrak predicts a 3 percent increase this year.
To prepare for the bargain hunters, Powell said American Eagle in particular plans to provide quality values as well as coupons.

“Offering manageable prices is always the big issue with us,” Powell said. “The way we put our items on promotion sort of goes along with the economy.  A lot of the time, our customers step into the store and expect to find good deals. With the war going on overseas and the recession, all of our customers are so tight with their money now, and it’s all about coupons.  If they don’t have a coupon, they’ll most likely not enter the store.”

According to Powell, many of the stores at Castleton will adjust their Black Friday plans by taking in suggestions from their customers.

“We try to focus on customer service. We’re not so concerned with making the store pretty,” Powell said. “What we worry about is when the customers come in, are they going to get what they’re looking for?”

Genco said she agrees that stores should consider the consumers because they are ultimately the ones who feed a business.

“If we’re the ones buying their products, I think they should take our suggestions and comments,” Genco said.

In order to hear the opinions of the customers, Powell said American Eagle constantly asks customers for their opinion.

Powell said, “A lot of the time, after the transaction, we ask them if they found everything okay and if they were happy with everything. We also recently included a survey that is printed on every receipt. So customers can go online and fill out the responses then let us know if we’re doing our job to the best of our ability.”

As a customer, Genco said she values two things.

“Safety,” Genco said, “and of course, running as fast as you can to get that bargain.”