By Andy Sevilla

While some local shoppers stayed home on Black Friday, others couldn’t help but get out and enjoy some of the discounted retail offerings this year.

The day after Thanksgiving, also known as Black Friday, has for years largely been held as the start to the Christmas shopping season. Many retailers open early that Friday and offer countless discounted and promotional sales. 

“We were just actually out for lunch and we decided we’d try and go check out some places for any deals still left on the shelves (on Black Friday),” Kyle resident Brittany Staker said. “I didn’t want to go, but we ended up going.”

This year, some big box stores in Kyle, Buda and throughout the United States opened their doors Thanksgiving evening giving an early start to the Black Friday shopping. Other retailers began their promotional sales a week in advance.

“I work retail, so I had to be at my job Thursday (Thanksgiving) evening, and wasn’t able to do some of my own shopping,” Desiree Richardson, a Kyle resident who works in Austin, said. “Our store was incredibly busy; traffic was constant from open to close. Some of those deals sometimes are just too good to miss.”

But for some, Black Friday deals, although pleasing to the pocket, are not worth some of the baggage that goes along with the discounted shopping.

“I just didn’t want to fight the crowds; and I’ve already done a lot of my Christmas shopping such as it’s going to be,” Opal Klaehn, a Buda resident, said. “I never left the house.”

Klaehn said the crowds and the chaos are not worth the savings. She said this year she’s buying Christmas gifts for a few little kids in her family. She said they all have an abundance of toys, so she decided to purchase books for them instead. Purchases, she said, she’s been making all throughout the year in preparation for the December holiday. 

But those who delayed their holiday purchases had an opportunity for some bargain finds on Black Friday.

Staker, who initially didn’t want to participate in the shopping but ended up going anyway, said she and her family went after lunch at about 2 p.m. when the shopping rush had died down a bit. She said she was looking for Xbox One games and movies to gift for Christmas.

“We found a lot at Best Buy,” Staker said. “There was actually still a lot of variety when we got there. We went to South Park (Meadows in Austin).”

And like Staker, Daphne Tenorio and her husband went out shopping in Kyle once the crowds had died down.

Tenorio said her Christmas shopping had long been done for her family, extended family and friends. She said she stepped out to enjoy some of the Black Friday deals for herself and her family. 

“It was really nice, because we weren’t under pressure to buy something,” Tenorio said. “We were just leisurely shopping and it was fun.”

Tenorio and her husband have a method to the Black Friday shopping. 

She said they went later in the day, once all “the hardcore shoppers were done.” There was a 45-minute line at the check out registers at Kohls in Kyle, so her husband would stand in line, while she shopped and brought the bargain finds to him. She said by the time she was done shopping at the store, her husband was quite close to check out.

 Black Friday has for years been one of the busiest and more profitable days for retailers throughout the country. Kyle and Buda will see returns on sales done on that day in January when they receive sales tax collections from the state comptroller’s office.