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Safety a key focus this Black Friday

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By STEPHANIE ROSENBLOOM

The New York Times

Published: November 12, 2009

A year after an unruly crowd trampled a worker to death at a Walmart store, America's retailers are preparing for another Black Friday, the blockbuster shopping day after Thanksgiving. Along with offering $300 laptops and $99 navigation devices, stores are planning new safety measures to make sure the festive day does not take another deadly turn.

Last year, frenzied shoppers at a Walmart in Valley Stream, N.Y., trampled Jdimytai Damour, a temporary store employee who died soon afterward. To prevent any such repeat, Wal-Mart has sharply changed how it intends to manage the crowds.

That new plan, developed by experts who have wrangled throngs at events such as the Super Bowl and the Olympics, will affect how customers approach and enter the stores, shop, check out and exit. Each store will have its own customized plan. The hope is for an orderly Black Friday, a seemingly incongruous notion.

The most significant change at Wal-Mart is that the majority of its discount stores (as opposed to its Supercenters) will open Thanksgiving morning at 6 a.m. and stay open through Friday evening. Last year, those stores closed on Thanksgiving evening and reopened early Friday morning. By keeping the stores open for 24 hours, Wal-Mart is hoping for a steady flow of shoppers instead of mammoth crowds swelling outside its stores in the wee hours of Friday.

In another new twist this year, shoppers at Walmart will not have to sprint toward a pile of flat-screen televisions and scuffle with one another to get one. Rather, customers will be able to enter the store at any time and line up at merchandise displays for the must-have items on their lists. When the products go on sale Friday at 5 a.m., employees will supervise the lines, giving shoppers the merchandise in the order in which they joined the line - until the goods are out of stock.

Only a small percentage of stores will not be open 24 hours; most Walmart Supercenters are already open 24 hours.

Stopping the bottleneck

Another problem in the past was the bottleneck at store entrances. Like many big-box retailers, Walmart does not have numerous entrances and exits to spread around customer traffic. So this year it will put workers in front of its stores to direct customers and keep them moving.

"We are committed to looking for ways to make our stores even safer for our customers and associates this holiday season," said David Tovar, a spokesman for Wal-Mart, adding that the retailer was "confident our customers can look forward to a safe and enjoyable shopping experience at Walmart."

In Tampa, national chains will take their cues from the corporate offices.

One of Tampa's newest retailers, Ikea, plans to open at 9 a.m. on that Friday, two hours before a regular weekday opening, and will have some door-buster style deals, plus free breakfast that Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

But officials aren't ready to disclose the specific deals yet. That will come closer to Black Friday. If crowds do form, Ikea has a "Plan A, Plan B and Plan C," said spokeswoman Debra Faulk. That can include putting out stanchions, handing out tickets or other crowd control systems. "We're prepared to handle crowds of any size. After our grand opening, and other events, we're quite prepared."

Officials with Florida retailer Bealls want everyone to stay calm in the face of Black Friday deals.

There may be crowds when the stores open at 4 a.m. that Friday, looking for deals such as $9.99 Dockers shorts and a free flamingo tree ornament. But, just in case hordes of people get unruly or over-excited when doors swing open, Bealls is taking precautions to prevent any injuries.

"We're not the kind of store that has TVs at such a low price that people really pound down the doors trying to get in on Black Friday," said spokeswoman Gwen Bennett. "But we're definitely going to spread around the deals, and we do have a line management program, with plenty of staff to handle anything."

Buyers more eager for deal

Aggressive shoppers are common the day after Thanksgiving. So crowd control plans, which vary by retailer, are critical. And they are especially important now, given the economy. Newly frugal consumers want more for less, and stores plan to drum up sales with stunning deals.

This year, for the first time, the National Retail Federation created a comprehensive set of guidelines for crowd control at stores. The guidelines note that special markdowns and historically low discounts have led to larger crowds.

The federation said retailers were performing dress rehearsals with their employees. Some stores plan to serve drinks to shoppers, or offer entertainment while they are in line, to maintain calm. Also, the stores say that creating a rapport with customers makes news of sellouts and long lines more palatable.

Tribune reporter Richard Mullins contributed to this story.

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