Shoppers put the green in Black Friday

US Marine Pvt. Elliott Chee watches Friday as shoppers place toys in the Toys for Tot collection box at Rio West Mall in Gallup. Chee, who is from Gamerco, recently returned to Gallup after completing boot camp earlier this month and will soon be moving to his next assignment at Camp Pendleton in California. [Photo by Jeff Jones/Independent]

By Leslie Wood
Staff writer

GALLUP — Eager shoppers converged at the Rio West Mall early Thursday to get a head start on holiday deals.

Lines surrounded popular Kay-Bee Toys store at 5 a.m. when the business’ doors opened, Manager Angie Joe said.
Within an hour, the store sold out of several toys, including train sets, Transformers, Cabbage Patch and Hannah Montana dolls.

“It seems like there’s a lot more people compared to last year,” Joe said. “ ... I’ve never seen lines this long before.”

Another in-demand item was the Monopoly board game.

“I’m glad board games are still popular,” Joe said.

The store’s employees refer to the day as “Green Friday” as opposed to the more traditional term of Black Friday because of the large profit incurred throughout the day.

“It’s a better way of referring to the day since it involves toys and children,” she said.

Customer Tricia Musgrave is visiting Gallup for the holiday weekend and stopped by the mall to purchase a toy for her husband’s niece. Musgrave’s husband communicated with family members by cell phone for suggestions as the couple walked through Kay-Bee Toy aisles.

“We’re just browsing,” Musgrave said.

The toy store was also offering a discount for shoppers who donated to Toys for Tots. The organization was accepting donations outside the business.

RadioShack Manager Eric Gallea said his store was packed with at least 100 people when the business opened at 6 a.m. The store’s hot item was the Zune MP3 player, which sold out within half an hour.

“You couldn’t even walk through the store,” Gallea said of the crowd.

Rio West Mall management promoted the day after Thanksgiving sales by offering gift bags for the first 500 shoppers. The bags included coupons and items such as key chains. Select bags also included gift certificates, Skip Sandgren, Rio West Mall general manager, said.

“If today is the barometer, it’s going to be a strong holiday season,” Sandgren said of business.

He said popular gifts include electronics such as the iPod, Nintendo We, XBox 360 and Playstation. He also said the Gallup area is also a strong market for apparel.

Sandgren said Santa Claus’ arrival attracted Gallup’s youngest shoppers Friday morning.

Local firefighters escorted Santa throughout the mall parking lot and into the business at 9:30 a.m. He was subsequently greeted by countless children ready to make their holiday requests.

Overall, Sandgren is pleased with business and said most shoppers were in good spirits.

“It was very, very successful,” he said. “ ... We had no issues at all.”