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By D'ANN LAWRENCE WHITE

dlwhite@tampatrib.com

Published: December 10, 2008

BRANDON - Despite the dour predictions by economic forecasters, Black Friday wasn't doom and gloom for businesses this holiday season.

For some, it brought holiday cheer to an otherwise dismal year.

Crediting loyal customers, the shops in Plaza Bella on Bloomingdale Avenue have been hustling and bustling, said plaza and Green Boutique owner Roz Creager.

"We're doing very well," she said. "We've been very fortunate. We're having a great holiday season. I wish the news would quit being so gloomy. I think it makes people feel guilty for shopping and that, in turn, makes it more difficult for the economy to recover."

Her recipe for drawing customers into the plaza is the use of promotions. On Black Friday, the plaza hosted a couples night featuring a wine-tasting, samples, drawings and other freebies geared for a date night.
Good customer service and unique products are also key ingredients, she said. At her gift shop, The Green Boutique, Brighton charms, Old World ornaments and anything by Vera Bradley has been flying off the shelves.

Many who found themselves at the Westfield Brandon mall at 4 a.m. the day after Thanksgiving said tradition prompted their annual outing, and a need to grab that once-in-a-lifetime bargain.

Nichole Addessi and her boyfriend, Jesse Blankenbiller, of Riverview, were at the mall by 5 a.m. She fixed on two items.

"I know it's selfish, but we're shopping for ourselves," Addessi said as the couple stood in a long checkout line at Sears. "We got this great five-piece luggage set at JCPenney for $40, and now we're buying this DVD home theater system for $150."

This was their first Black Friday shopping spree as a couple.

"We saw the price of this home theater system and it was too good a bargain to pass up," Blankenbiller said.

For sisters Myra and Alissa Stringfella of Brandon, getting up at 3 a.m. for a shopping spree is a holiday tradition. They spend Thanksgiving poring over advertising fliers, deciding where to go and what to buy.

At 5:30 a.m., the sisters were at Sears with their first Christmas gifts: CorningWare for their mother - they got the $59 set for $49, and Myra had a $10-off coupon - and a $19.99 accessory set for $4.99.

Outside Radio Shack, a crowd awaited its 6 a.m. opening. At the head of the line was Rose Exum of Brandon. She hoped to save $60 on a digital camera with a free printer.

Exum said she makes it a point to shop early every Black Friday. She scopes out stores beforehand, asking clerks what's going on sale.

"Then I map out where I'm going," she said. "You have to be very consumer-conscious nowadays. Last year I saved $1,500 by early shopping."

Jason Howard and his girlfriend stayed up all night before driving from their north Tampa home to the Brandon mall, where they split up and began power shopping from a list they made during the night.

At 5:45 a.m., Howard was waiting for Radio Shack to open so he could buy a Motorola Bluetooth for $10 - a $50 value. Inside his Disney Store bag was a Barbie hairdresser set. He paid $25 for the $40 item.

"I saved a little money, so it was worth it," he said. "I'll probably do this every year."

Kristen Dittmer of Brandon dragged her mom out of bed to take her to the mall for one reason: she had to have Victoria's Secret Very Sexy cologne and the gift bag that came with every $60 purchase. While Dittmer eagerly awaited the store's 6 a.m. opening, her mother eagerly awaited her chance to go back to bed.

Mother and daughter Jeanne and Pasha Meimann were wide awake as they sipped lattes at Starbucks, although they'd been at the mall since 4 a.m. Jeanne, 76, of Temple Terrace, and Pasha, 44, of New Tampa, have been getting up at the crack of dawn and shopping together on Black Friday since Pasha was in high school.

"It's just a family tradition," Jeanne Meimann said. "We like to save money, but more than anything we just have fun doing it together."

"It was a typical Black Friday," said Dawn Richter, marketing director for the mall who took advantage of the Black Friday sales to tick off items on her own Christmas gift list. "There were some very deep discounts, and some early shoppers did very well. One of the things I noticed, though, was a lot of the shoppers were shopping for themselves."

She said while early risers were after discounted electronics, later shoppers sought bargains on clothing.

Sixteen-year-old Aeropostale employees Carson Nance and Ayanna Gibbs could attest to that. There were nonstop crowds in the popular teen clothing store from the moment it opened at 6 a.m. Gibbs was a bit overwhelmed. It was her first day on the job.

"It's a lot of work," she said. "But I'm having fun."

Nance disagreed. "This is the worst day of the year," she said, attempting to train Gibbs while simultaneously refolding T-shirts customers left in disarray. Everything in the store was 50 to 70 percent off. A line of shoppers waiting to purchase merchandise snaked around the store's perimeter.

"You can't blame them," Nance said. "It's a great deal. The hoodies are normally $100. Today they're $50."

The buys were so good at Aeropostale that Francisco Suarez came all the way from Ecuador to shop. He and family members grabbed piles of Aeropostale shirts and jackets to resell in their native country at a profit.

"We've been here in the past and gotten better bargains," he said. "But this is still cheaper than Ecuador."

From her vantage point working the patio at California Pizza Kitchen, waitress Jamarie Germany said she noticed far fewer shoppers than last year.

"I could tell it was going to be slower when I arrived at work about 10:30," she said. "This year it took me only 10 minutes to find a parking space. Last year it took about a half an hour."

Richter noted that, with a shorter holiday season this year, retailers may experience fewer sales. In addition, money-conscious consumers are going to be looking for bargains, she said.

"But I still think people are out there buying gifts."

Reporter D'Ann Lawrence White can be reached at (813) 657-4524 or dlwhite@tampatrib.com.

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