NEW YORK |
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Top U.S. retailers from Best Buy Co Inc (BBY.N) to Toys R Us TOY.UL saw longer shopper lines outside stores on Black Friday, raising hopes for an improved holiday selling season, their chief executives said."Judging from the excitement at Toys R Us at 10 p.m. (Thursday) and throughout the evening, the shopper is back," Toys R Us Chief Executive Jerry Storch told Reuters on Black Friday, the kick-off to the biggest selling season of the year.
While retail executives tend to project optimism in media appearances on Black Friday, they still have weeks to wait for total returns from the holiday season between U.S. Thanksgiving Day, which fell on Thursday, and Christmas on December 25.
Early anecdotal evidence from shoppers who lined up at stores well before dawn on Friday and from industry analysts who hopped between several malls suggested traffic was strong and the appetite to buy was up from a year ago.
Storch said he was feeling "great" about the rest of the holiday shopping season and noted that even in regions where it rained or snowed on Black Friday, "customers braved the weather to get to the store."
Toys R Us saw customers open their wallets for cheaper hot toys like Sing-A-Ma-Jigs plush dolls and Squinkies collectibles, as well for more expensive classic brands like Barbie dolls, Nerf foam toys and Lego building blocks.
"They seem to be purchasing big baskets," Storch said, adding it was too early to comment more specifically on how much was being spent per customer.
Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn said products like smartphones, e-readers, computers and mobile computing devices were selling very well. Video game systems like Microsoft Corp's (MSFT.O) Kinect and Sony Corp's (8729.T) (SNE.N) Move were also "drawing a lot of interest and a lot of action," he said.
"There are customers that are grabbing multiple items for their basket. So far so good," Dunn told Reuters. "I think the consumer is going to come out this holiday season."
The Standard & Poor's Retail Index .RLX was down 0.22 percent, while the wider S&P 500 .SPX was down 0.74 percent. Best Buy shares were up 0.4 percent.
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