Black Friday deals see shoppers flocking to malls

Some stores see crowds 50% bigger than a week earlier

- Gena Soh and Rosalind Ang

With Covid-19 restrictions gradually winding down, shoppers hit the streets as they returned to the nation’s favourite pastime on Black Friday yesterday.

The SafeEntry gantries at malls beeped busily as throngs of shoppers, drawn by steep discounts, checked into bargain-hunting grounds.

Among them were consumers who wanted to get a feel of the actual goods before buying, and older shoppers who never quite took to online shopping during the pandemic.

On the hunt for new kitchen equipment in the basement of Takashimaya was Madam Linda Chng, 52. She said: “Although my children tend to do more online shopping, I still prefer to go to bricks-and-mortar department stores because I like to be able to look at and feel things.”

Madam Chng, who is self-employed, added: “The Black Friday sale just gave me an opportunity to do so at lower prices.”

Housewife Lim Soo Shan, 40, said she prefers to shop online, but was accompanying her 65-year-old mother to the luxury bag section of Takashimaya to shop for a bag.