For the 4th year in a row, I hit the road well before the crack of dawn to check out the Black Friday rush. While you’ve now seen the reports of online and offline sales growth or lack thereof, I wanted to give my impression.

Like last year, I visited 2 Best Buys, HomeGoods/TJX, Golfsmith, GameStop, REI, Road Runner Sports, Gap, Banana Republic, Macy’s, and a couple other stores throughout the bay area. This is just about the same trip I made last year. Started in San Francisco @ 5am (Best Buy), made my way down to San Carlos by 8am (Best Buy, HomeGoods, TJX, Golfsmith, GameStop, REI, Road Runner Sports), and ended up in Palo Alto at the Stanford Shopping Center (Gap, Banana Republic, Macy’s).

My quick impressions (garnered through listening, asking questions, watching, etc.):
-Consumers are not going overspend.
-Consumers are using debit cards and cash more than they did last year
-Consumers were on a mission. They researched online before stepping into the store. They knew what they wanted (the doorbuster deals) and stuck to their guns, rarely purchasing items not on their lists.
-Comments from Best Buy managers both indicated that foot traffic was about equal to last year
-1 smaller independent store (skis/snowboards seller) which I visited last year wasn’t even open this year
-While everyone continues to say that mobile commerce is here, I was the only person I saw all day who scanned bar codes (with my Android HTC Hero using 2 apps: ShopSavvy and iXMAT Scanner)
-A lot of merchandise was quickly out of stock – and I’m not just talking about the doorbuster deals.
-Consumers seemed to want to wrap up their shopping early. This is similar to last year when merchants had to drop prices over and over to get consumers to come back and spend.
-HomeGoods/TJX was completely empty and didn’t even open early.
-No one was in Golfsmith or Road Runner Sports. Very sad.
-Petco was empty and didn’t even open early.
-GameStop was buzzing and smartly had someone explain the deal of the day as you entered the store.
-Both Best Buy stores were packed for hours and hours. The line at the San Carlos store must have been at about 80-100 people the entire time I was in the store.
-Aprx. 80 people were in line for the 8am opening of REI. I got a $5 gift card at the door. The store was pretty much empty by 8:40am. I didn’t have to wait at the register.
-Much easier to get parking at the Stanford Shopping Center this year. Felt like a lot less people shopping. Gap sales associate who had worked last 7 Black Fridays said that foot traffic was about the same as last year.

Ok, just another data point or 2 for you to ponder. I don’t have the same sense of doom and gloom from last year, but I definitely don’t have a sense of holiday cheer either.

Biggest thing I’m pondering. If my experience at the 2 Best Buy stores is any indication, sales might end up higher, but profit numbers might be under pressure as consumers seem to just be purchasing the deeply discounted products.