BEIRUT: By the opening bell just before the weekend, large numbers of potential shoppers jumped into the Black Friday lineup to buy their entrance tickets.
The four-day event that took place at the Seaside Arena gathered international luxury brands under one roof. Some of the brands participating included Hugo Boss, Puma, NIKE, Porsche, Superga, Armani, Zadig & Voltaire, FILA, among others.
Holiday shopping coverage by Annahar for the 2017 season at the shopping mall level reported many consumers browsing but not buying.
For Khoury Home, a leading retailer of household appliances and electronics, it was the same story as Emporio but even busier, “Huge masses of people are coming in to buy pillows,” the store employee told Annahar while holding three pillows in one hand, and a barcode scanner in the other hand.
“If it seems like you won’t be sleeping on a pillow at night, it might give you nightmares,” a shopper jokingly told the employee.
Two women shoppers had some criticisms to offer Annahar however, criticizing the lack of organization.
People were “on top of each other,” and prices were not as low as expected. “We thought that we would find very affordable items, but it’s not the case, the cheapest item that we saw was around $100,” they told Annahar.
He added that the collection is mainly Spring-Summer 2018 and that the prices are very affordable, especially that the average item at Hugo Boss is usually around $200, but now it is much less as there is 70 percent sale and lower.
“People can even find items at 50,000L.L,” Patrick told Annahar.
Another shopper also praised the event, "it is a place you can find excellent and top brands items at very reasonable prices, I wish they can do more of it every couple of months instead of every year," she told Annahar.
This year’s Black Friday Market proved to be a successful retail event and tool for vendors to exhibit their products. The friendly holiday atmosphere gave shoppers and sellers the opportunity to interact and communicate.
“I feel very happy that I'm helping visitors around especially when it’s very crowded, and people enjoy the sales a lot, it’s a very encouraging event to network and have fun,” an employee at Zadig & Voltaire happily told Annahar.