Specialty Retailers Report Black Friday Boost

By TDmonthly Staff
November 2012

According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), Black Friday sales this year raked in an estimated 59.1 billion dollars — and specialty toy store owners were more than happy to take home a piece of the pie. Kate Tanner, owner of Kidstop Toys in Scottsdale, Ariz., said that Black Friday sales were way up over last year. Brett Sommer, co-owner of Figpickel's Toy Emporium in Coeur d'Alene, ID, agreed.

"We definitely set a record this weekend," he told TDmonthly. "We're not talking a little, we're talking enormous. Three days from the minute we opened to the minute we closed, we were packed. We couldn't get them out of the store! Fortunately, we had moved into a much larger space. We couldn't have fit a fraction of the people in our previous space."

Tim Holliday of Children's World in Sarasota, Fla., told TDmonthly that in Sarasota, shoppers usually delegate Black Friday for big-box shopping, but his store, too, had very strong sales on Saturday. Both retailers are optimistic for the rest of 4th quarter.

Stay tuned for more updates on Black Friday and 4th Quarter sales from TDmonthly Magazine. Keep up with all Toy Industry news here.