Malls Market Black Friday Deals To Foreign Tourists

NEW YORK — Foreigners don't want to just come to the U.S. to leisurely shop during the holiday shopping season. The new attraction? They want to partake in Black Friday pre-dawn buying madness – waking up before dawn and fighting the crowds at 4 a.m.

In fact, an increasing number of malls and tour operators are marketing the tradition as a piece of Americana to hot markets like China and Brazil as they seek to boost sales. And of course, this year, with the euros and other currencies going further because of a weakening dollar, the lure is even bigger.

Sawgrass Mills in Sunrise, Fla., and owned by Simon Property Group, had been throwing its doors open on midnight on Black Friday for the past two years but it had only focused on locals. This year, it's targeting foreigners, particularly those from Latin American countries like Brazil and Venezuela, for the first time.

"We're paying close attention," said Luanne Lenberg, general manager at Sawgrass. "It could build incrementally or it could be a resounding success." She expects as much as 20 percent of shoppers showing up for the early morning deals could be foreigners.

Premium Outlet Centers, a division of Simon Property Group, has been one of the early pioneers, marketing its midnight openings to foreigners for several years, at certain centers like Woodbury Common in Central Valley, N.Y. But this year it's expecting to see bigger crowds, based on interviews with tour companies.

"They like this tradition," says Silvia Chuang, general manager of S.H. Tours., a tour company based in San Francisco which is seeing a huge increase in the number of tourists from Singapore, Malaysia, China and Indonesia participating in Black Friday. She noted that 1,000 international tourists have signed up for the shopping excursion on Black Friday at Premium Outlet Centers on the East and West Coast, including Woodbury Common; two years ago that number was 100.

Claudia Menezes, vice president of Pegasus Transportation, which is based in Orlando, Fla., and runs buses to malls, said 800 tourists from Brazil have signed up for Black Friday shopping at the Mall at Millenia in Orlando, Fla., and other local centers; last year, only about 150 signed up.

As for U.S. neighbor Canada, it's a much shorter trip, and U.S. malls like Mall of America expect to see bigger crowds, including first-timers Valerie Sitar, from Winnipeg.

"I always wanted to experience Black Friday. I've read about it. I heard about it," said Sitar, who plans to show up at Minnesota's Mall of America at 3 a.m. "It's way bigger and better than our Boxing Day."

_ AP Retail Writer Anne D'Innocenzio

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Free shipping the holiday watchword

As Black Friday nears, free shipping offers are everywhere.

Home Depot said Wednesday that for the first time it will offer free shipping on many of its online products beginning on Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, and running through Monday. The offer applies to 90,000 of the 100,000 items it offers online, including Christmas trees and holiday decor.

Home Depot joins the ranks of retailers aggressively competing for shopper's dollars during one of the busiest shopping periods of the year. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. got the ball rolling by offering free shipping on nearly 60,000 online items, with no minimum order size, including electronics, jewelry and toys, through Dec. 20.

Toys R Us is offering free shipping on purchases of $49 or more Thursday through Monday. Amazon will offer free shipping on orders of $25 or more from its Black Friday deals page (members of its paid loyalty program Amazon Prime get free two-day shipping on anything).

Best Buy has free online shipping now through Dec. 21 on most items, including gaming software and accessories. And Target is offering its most aggressive free-shipping deal ever, which covers 800,000 items when shoppers spend $50 or more.

Four out of five online retailers said they'll offer free shipping at some point during the season, and nearly one-third said these offers will begin earlier this year than a year ago, according to a survey by the National Retail Federation's Shop.org online arm.

_ AP Retail Writer Mae Anderson

Comments

[Js420]

03:10 PM on 11/28/2010

Of course they are, most Americans are broke.

[bordway]

06:07 AM on 11/26/2010

I'm surprised there are no reported deaths by trampling yet.

[mumi009]

03:18 AM on 11/26/2010

Part 2 of 2

An American who visits Germany does not need a visa for tourist visits of up to 90 days. He or she lands in Frankfurt. Signs and announcements are multilingual. If the tourist has a question or a problem he can ask most any airport employee or security person a question in English and receive a reply in English. Immigration formalities are simple and quick. Customs formalities, too, are very quick and efficient.

When out and about in Frankfurt or in deepesst Bavaria, the American tourist speaks English with cab drivers, waiters, store salespersons: He or she expects to be understood and replied to in English.

What a colonial attitude!

I've got news. Many of my friends who have up to now been friends of the U.S. and have travelled there frequently in the past will be taking trips to other venues than the U.S.A.

[netzwerg]

04:06 AM on 11/26/2010

HAHAHA,
you are right, they never speak anything else than english and you can spot American tourists from 500m away.
Here are some typicial examples:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Kh0CZuWd0T8/Scgc-dT79JI/AAAAAAAACNY/qVPf12q4uGQ/s400/american+tourists.jpg
http://blogimages.project76.tv/8Uo0uH_BlogAmerican_tourists.jpg

Signs are: Crazy Shirts, white Tennis socks, shorts, baseball hats, wide hips, sunglasses even if the sun does not shine and fanny packs.

[mumi009]

03:18 AM on 11/26/2010

Part 1 of 2

Shopping malls want to attract foreign tourists? That's a laugh.

The government then makes these "visa-free" tourists fill out essentially a visa application online and coerces them to give up all their rights upon entering the U.S. (yes, foreigner DO have rights in the U.S.) before they may board a plane heading to a U.S. destination.

The government institutes a 14 dollar "admisstion fee" for tourists who supposedly don't need a visa (like those from most western european countries).

The U.S. government subjects foreign tourists to unreasonablle search and seizure at airports with pat downs and body scans.

Then they visit stores that sell t-shirts with words like "Welcome to America! Now speak English". Yes, I saw a shirt with exactly those words in a store in Florida.

Few stores and the people who work in them are prepared linguistically for serving foreign tourists. Some employees can barely speak English properly let alone speak French, German, Japanese, or whatever.

[bordway]

06:01 AM on 11/26/2010

The questions answered online are the identical question previously answered on the form, a part which was previously fastened into the passport. The right to appear before an Immigration Judge has never been extended to persons entering the US without a visa, ever.

The "admission fee" is lower than many countries that US citizens fly to. I paid $25 to go to Australia. I didn't bat a lash.

All citizens are subject to search and seizure. In the EU, you are subject to questioning/search by any member of the police or military anywhere within the Schegen, and you'd damn well better have your national identity card or you'll be hauled in.

Larger stores and malls who target markets like China or Brazil have many employees who speak Chinese or Portugese.

You'd better save your Euros this year for the Irish bailout.