The widely anticipated bedlam of Black Friday does not appear to have materialised in Dublin at any rate. While some shops in the city centre seemed slightly busier than normal this morning, for most it was business as usual.
The shopper no-show was even more pronounced in the UK where some stores opened their doors at midnight to find only a raggle taggle mob of journalist outside waiting to record the chaos that never came.
The relative calm in Dublin appeared to take both shoppers and shop assistants by surprise with most suggesting the early morning no-show was merely the calm before the storm.
“It’s quiet now but I’d say it’ll definitely get really busy later on,” one woman in her mid-20s with a mobile pressed to her ear told a friend as she wandered aimlessly through an almost empty Top Shop in the Jervis Street Shopping Centre.
“I’d come in now if I was you,” she added, with a slight hint of desperation in her voice, almost as if she was trying to justify her own decision to take the day off to go in search of bargains.
Next door in Dorothy Perkins there appeared to be more shop assistants than shoppers while across the way in Next it was almost as quiet.
Marks & Spencer was slightly busier but by no means heaving . “A lot of people would have come in to get their deals yesterday,” a shop assistant said as she stacked a range of Fitbit fitness trackers which came with a healthy 30 per cent discount.
“Right now it is a normal three-week-before-Christmas Friday morning. I’d say it will get busy later on,” she said .
In Arnotts a ‘Mega Event’ was underway. The crowds were anything but mega, mind you and as far as the eye could see there were staff wandering aimlessly about folding clothes and doing their best to look busy.
“Maybe it’s because Black Friday is only just catching on Ireland,” said one chap morosely folding jeans. “Mind you it’s not even 10.30am so we’ll probably be mad busy later on.” The sense of hope in his voice was palpable.
Across Henry Street in Debenhams things were busier and the rumble of the crowds was definitely louder as people sought out bargains . A lot of people were crowded around the fancy Dan electric brushes which discounts of between 30 and 50 per cent.
It was the same story on the other side of the river. Ecco Shoes on Grafton St, which was first out of the Black Friday traps this morning, opening its doors at 6am with discounts of 40 per cent. By the time The Irish Times arrived the level of discounting had fallen to 20 per cent.
We were assured it had been very busy earlier in the day.
It was actually busy in Brown Thomas. A woman selling high end bags was delighted with herself. “Oh it’s been crazy,” she said. “And it’s brilliant. It’s great to be kept busy.
Even the health food shops were cashing in, or trying to, on the contrived consumerism. Holland and Barrett had a handful of Black Friday deals. “You can’t escape it, no matter where you go,” a staff member said.
This wasn’t quite true. Weir’s was an oasis of calm having made absolutely no concessions to the latest retail fad.
The lower than expected turnout was mirrored in Britain and the scenes from last year of bargain-hunters coming to blows over cut price tellies were not repeated. Police erected security barriers around some key shopping areas but they need not have bothered.
Boots opened its flagship store on Oxford St at midnight and the only people to show up were a handful of journalists and camera crews. There were some small queues outside some Tesco Extra stores which opened at 5am but they were hardly anything to write home about
And even in the US which gifted the world Black Friday, crowds were thin on the ground as discounts were met with caution.
