Black Friday affects national and small businesses

BOWLING GREEN Ky.-Store parking lots filled with cars and retail employees hard at work. Black Friday is here.

Big name businesses like Best Buy see a lot of business on Black Friday. Stores are stocked high, in hopes that they’ll be cleaned off after the busy day.  For shoppers, some are trying Black Friday for the first time.

“I heard about how the prices are lower. I wanted to get the experience,” said the first time Black Friday shopper Janice Felty.

Others have been Black Friday shopping for years and see it as a tradition.

“This has definitely been a family tradition, always to Black Friday shop,” said long time Black Friday shopper Khristy Marion.

While the idea is to get everything sold, shoppers said v electronics are what they’re looking for the most.

“Mostly like the Nintendo switch. We’re actually shopping for a soundbar for our TV as well,” Marion said.

It’s not just the big-name businesses that see the effects of Black Friday. In downtown Bowling Green, local businesses are also seeing the effects.

Small businesses like Melodies and Memories, and Morris Jewelry said serving Black Friday shoppers is a gem.

“We as independent retailers downtown see it through the month and really strong into the first part of December,” said Morris Jewelry owner Jim Steen.

The extra business results in a nice holiday gift for the local shops. More business, and the chance to ignite an interest of shopping local.

“We do two- or three-months’ worth of business in two or three weeks,” Steen said.