A More Relaxed, Enjoyable Black Friday

As far as Black Fridays go, it wasn't so bad.

Shoppers at Broadway Plaza in downtown Walnut Creek said the lines weren't as long as they feared and the discounts were better than they had hoped.

"The prices are pretty amazing," said Cameron Walker, who was waiting with his 18-month-old daughter Catherine while his wife Conny was shopping inside Janie and Jack.

Walker and his family had driven over from Montclair to window shop. They lived in Walnut Creek until recently and like the downtown region.

"We decided to walk around and see what was out there," said Walker.

They found discounts up to 50 percent and ended up buying something at Nordstrom as well as Janie and Jack.

Across the street, Vy Spoto was browsing with her husband Leonard and their 2-year-old daughter Olivia.

They had arrived at 10:30 a.m. and found some of the discounts inviting at several stores.

"I bought more than I thought I would," said Spoto.

At the nearby Starbucks, Judy Zenoni was enjoying some coffee with her daughter, Laura, and her daughter-in-law, Sonya.

Laura is headed to London for school in a few days, so she and her mother arrived at 9 a.m. to buy some new clothes for the trip. Sonya came along to do some Christmas shopping.

By the time they sat down for coffee, there were bags from Macy's, Ann Taylor Loft and other stores piled up around the table.

They said it was a near perfect day for shopping. The crowds weren't that big, the prices were right and the weather was beautiful.

"It was totally worth it," said Zenoni.

Some stores opened on Thanksgiving while others waited until Friday. Macy's had been open since 8 p.m. Thursday. Nordstrom didn't open their doors until 8 a.m. Friday.

The stores that opened on the holiday did so because there are six fewer post-Thanksgiving shopping days this year than last year.

Economists said the Thursday's openings may have spread out the crowds over a longer time period, making Black Friday less hectic than usual, according to a Reuters article.

The National Retail Federation is predicting 2013 holiday sales will increase by 3.9 percent over last year to $602 billion nationwide. They do note that 2012 was slow holiday sales season because of the Connecticut school shootings, Hurricane Sandy and the "fiscal cliff" worries.

Not all store managers were optimistic about Black Friday.

Sophia Perez, the manager at Georgiou in Broadway Plaza, said she was concerned about her store's sales on Friday.

Despite the fact the parking lot behind Macy's was full at 11 a.m., there wasn't the usual Black Friday foot traffic along the strip of stores between Nordstrom and Macy's.

That block of 40 shops is scheduled to be torn down early next year as part of a two-year renovation project.

Perez said some stores have already left, decreasing the number of patrons in their neck of the plaza.

"We don't have a lot of variety because we've lost so many stores," she said.

Perez added Broadway Plaza management requires all stores to be open from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Black Friday.

However, the plaza's holiday tree and most of the holiday-related entertainment is across the street in the newer part of the shopping center.

"It's a tough, tough sell over here," she said.