Black Friday deals in Houston still drawing crowds - Chron

Nancy Conway, 58, and her daughter Amy Clepper, 35, check out after shopping at Academy Sports and Outdoor during Black Friday on Friday, Nov. 29, 2019, in Cypress, Texas.

Nancy Conway, 58, and her daughter Amy Clepper, 35, check out after shopping at Academy Sports and Outdoor during Black Friday on Friday, Nov. 29, 2019, in Cypress, Texas.
Photo: Godofredo A. Vásquez, Houston Chronicle / Staff Photographer

Photo: Godofredo A. Vásquez, Houston Chronicle / Staff Photographer

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Nancy Conway, 58, and her daughter Amy Clepper, 35, check out after shopping at Academy Sports and Outdoor during Black Friday on Friday, Nov. 29, 2019, in Cypress, Texas.

Photo: Godofredo A. Vásquez, Houston Chronicle / Staff Photographer

Nancy Conway, 58, and her daughter, Amy Clipper, 35, wore matching “Black Friday Squad” T-shirts as they shopped at Academy Sports + Outdoors early Friday morning.

Conway’s niece had the custom shirts made four years ago to mark their first Black Friday bonanza, and ever since, the black, yellow and green shirts have become part of a festive family tradition. This year, the squad shopped Thanksgiving Day from 2 p.m. until 11 p.m., and were back at it when Academy’s doors opened at 6 a.m. the following morning to buy a dog bed, a BB gun, socks and shoes to put under the family Christmas tree next month.

“We’re not big shoppers, but this is our time to hang out and shop every year,” Conway said. “We enjoy our time together.”

Many Houstonians headed out early on Black Friday, some driven by family tradition, others lured by some of the deepest discounts of the year. Despite the rise of online shopping and year-round deals, plenty of consumers still headed out to the stores on one of the biggest shopping days of the year.

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Customers started lining up at the Academy store in Cypress around 5:30 on Friday morning. By the time doors opened at 6 a.m., a crowd of about 50 people were lined up outside the door, antsy to get inside and shop.

Store manager Scott Kruse said he estimates the early morning crowds were a little smaller than last year, but that online sales were up significantly, with a couple hundred online orders from Thanksgiving waiting for his staff to fulfill when they got in Friday morning. Many people who went out to the store Friday were drawn to the buy one, get one firearm sale, and discounts on exercise equipment, bicycles and grills, he said.

“Our business has changed with online shopping, but we’re still getting pretty good traffic,” Kruse said. “I see no problem meeting our sales.”

Christopher Young, 26, drove an hour from Brenham on Friday morning to shop for a gun lockbox and ammunition at Academy. The 11th grade English teacher, who hunts and hobby shoots, said he has been shopping Black Friday for the past three years to stock up on half a year’s worth of ammunition. In particular, he was drawn to a box of Federal-branded ammunition costing $44, down from its original price of $60.

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“My family thinks I’m crazy for coming out every year,” Young said. “But the deals are what gets me out of bed. My hobby can get expensive.”

Mechelle Bodwin, 35, was also up early Friday, looking to score deals on new bikes and a basketball hoop for her two boys, 8 and 10 years old. The Cypress resident, who works in the energy business, said she found a Spaulding 54-inch basketball hoop for $250, as well as two kids bikes for $224 combined. She reckons she saved about $400 to $500 by shopping Black Friday deals.

“I’m trying to figure out how to sneak this all back home without my kids knowing,” Bodwin said.

paul.takahashi@chron.com

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