Black Friday looked different in Mobile in 2020. Several major retailers — including Best Buy, Target, Walmart, and Kohl’s — kept their doors closed on Thanksgiving Day, breaking with the years-long tradition of holiday evening doorbusters and doing away with the early lines that used to wrap around storefronts across Mobile and Baldwin County.
In previous years, Best Buy locations in the two counties opened at 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving. This year, shoppers had to wait until 5 a.m. on Black Friday itself.
The change made for a quiet Thanksgiving evening outside local stores. By 6 p.m., only a father and son held a spot in line at one Mobile retailer, with the surrounding parking lot largely empty.
“We’re getting a PlayStation 5 for my son,” said Dewayne Ballard of Mobile, who camped out for the hard-to-find console.
Other shoppers expected crowds would still show up Friday morning despite coronavirus concerns. “Makes sense because of the corona and stuff like that, but people are still gonna want to shop,” said Jason McMillan.