Business as Usual on Black Friday In Clawson

For some, the day after Thanksgiving is a day of rest. For others, it's a day of bargains. For many customers at the Clawson Shopping Center on Friday, it's just a normal afternoon. 

Royal Oak resident Kimberly Wallace, 40, spent part of her Black Friday shopping at the . She said she likes to shop whenever she has days off, and that even though shopping on Black Friday isn't a big deal for her, she knows there are a lot of sales. Wallace had list of stores to visit with coupons for almost all of them.

Dress Barn employee Dasha Crawley, 25, of Highland Park said her store doesn't have "door-buster" deals. "We do have a promotion where customers can select their own discounted item," she said, adding that many customers come to the store after visiting the mall. Still, Crawley said there would only be three employees in the store to help serve the costumers, just like any other day. 

Unlike Wallace, Clawson resident Laura Marsoupian, 25, said she tries to avoid Black Friday and she wouldn't be out shopping Friday if she weren't looking for a gift for her friend's birthday.

"I don't like shopping anyways," she said as she sat on the floor of .

Unlike many shoppers who use Black Friday as a way to get ahead on Christmas shopping, Marsoupian said she'll probably go Christmas shopping just "a couple weeks before" the holiday. 

Inside Amy's , owner Nancy Kehoe said it's business as usual for this time of year. There are discounts, but they're not advertised – customers must instead go online to print a coupon. Discounts range from reduced prices to "buy one, get one free" offers. Kehoe said sales were up the day before Thanksgiving and she expected they would be huge on Friday, as well. She also said most of her customers go to her store after they've visited the mall.

Unlike Hallmark and the Dress Barn, some other businesses in the strip mall did not anticipate a boost in sales from Black Friday.

Dan Klepp, the owner of Ace Hardware, said his busiest time of year isn't Black Friday, it's  Memorial Day. "It's bigger than Thanksgiving," he said. "Black Friday isn't the biggest because of the nature of our business."