People look for bargains, practical gifts, electronics and plenty of toys

Worries about how high the shopping fever would reach in the Bonney Lake area were settled by big crowds and better than expected sales in the city’s big three stores – Target, Fred Meyer and Wal-Mart.

The good news was people came out for the traditional Black Friday spree in healthy numbers and there were no reports of tragic shopping deaths like those reported in the national media.

Devin Craig from Target said the store did, “very well. Pretty close to what we did last year. There were over 850 transactions in the first hour (Friday).”

Craig said people bought toys, electronics and “lots of gifts. People were looking for bargains and finding good deals.”

Karen Jackson, the store director for Fred Meyer, said the sales were “better than last year. People were buying practical gifts, but they were still spending.”

Jackson said the $800 flat screen TV “sold out right away.”

She said the day Boeing workers ended the strike and went back to work in October, “you could almost feel a sense of relief. We had a jewelry event Nov. 5 and it went very well. The following week people were in filling their baskets up.”

Matt Kelly, manager of Wal-Mart, said the sales were about what was expected, “maybe a little bit better. And even more so than last year people are looking for bargains.”

Bargain hunting and practical gifts appear to be the keys to the first major days of the holiday shopping season.

Jackson noted the next question is will the buying continue through the month.

Reach Dennis Box at dbox@courierherald.com or 360-802-8209.