WASHINGTON/CHICAGO, November 29 (Sputnik) – US retail chains witness strong start of Thanksgiving weekend sales despite protesters’ calls to boycott Black Friday, US retailers representatives said on Friday.
“We can confidently say that Black Friday is off to a strong early start both in stores and on target.com,” Target public relations specialist Jamie Bastian told Sputnik.
Across the United States “families began gathering hours before the 6 p.m. opening [on Thanksgiving Day] in lines of hundreds and sometimes thousands of people,” Target‘s official statement says.
Another famous US retailer JCPenney's media representative shared the same optimism in a statement sent to Sputnik.
"We saw a strong surge of customers visit JCPenney beginning at 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving," JCPenney's statement reads.
JCPenney's “strong start” to the holiday season was exceptionally successful in “[US] northeast and midwest regions seeing the highest sales increases over last year.”
Walmart also expects high sales over Thanksgiving weekend, according to the retailer’s statement.
US activist network Blackout for Human Rights (Blackout) has called for a nationwide boycott of Black Friday shopping to express solidarity in the fight against US police brutality, following protests across the United States over the grand jury decision not to indict a white police officer Darren Wilson for fatal shooting of the African-American teenager Michael Brown.
During 2013 Thanksgiving weekend Americans spent $57.4 billion dollars, according to the US National Retail Federation.
