BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — The pandemic has caused a lot of things to change this year, including Black Friday. But that didn't stop buyers from heading out to the stores to snag some holiday deals.
Long lines of people waited outside of Valley Plaza Mall on Friday morning in hopes to grab some Black Friday deals.
"Black Friday sales, I'm going to Pink and see what I can get for the family," said Monica Vidana, a shopper.
Customers waited in line since the early morning hours before the mall opened at 7 a.m. A lot of people in the morning crowd were trying to get their hands on the new Sony PlayStation 5 game console but as the day continued, the lines slowed down.
" I was planning on coming here right as soon as they opened but I couldn't, but two hours later it actually wasn't that bad, there was a line but the wait wasn't that long," said Priseilla Padilla, a shopper.
People came in and out of stores throughout the day, but still, the crowd wasn't nearly as busy as in past years according to buyers
"It was way different, it was just like every Friday. We usually come to the Plaza once or twice a month and this no different from any other day," said Eddie Cavez, a shopper.
A lot of people have been opting out of going to the mall due to the pandemic, and according to Nerdwallet's holiday shopping report, shopping in-store this year is down 37% from last year.
But some buyers still decided to come out just to check out some of the Black Friday sales.
"I do online shopping mostly and just Black Friday decided to come out with my sister," said Vidana.
It is no secret that the pandemic has caused a lot of hardship this year, but some are still feeling fortunate enough to be able to come and shop for the holidays.
"I have been fortunate enough to keep my job, this time around but it kind of sucks because there are actually people out there who are not getting to come this year and they do it every year because of this pandemic," said Chavez.
If you can't make it to the stores Cyber-Monday is just around the corner.
