The time when shoppers descend upon a few blocks of prime Dunedin real estate to snap up a bargain, when harried retail assistants frantically try to stop their shops from looking like war zones, and those who forgot what day it was when they decided to head into town instantly regretted their life choices.
Yes, Black Friday in Dunedin was, as one store manager succinctly put it, ‘‘bonkers’’.
Black Friday originated in the United States, where it is traditionally held on the Friday after Thanksgiving. There, it is the busiest shopping day of the year.
It has since reached New Zealand, leading to posters in almost every shop window urging shoppers to step inside and nab themselves a sweet deal. It is also the last major sale day before Christmas.
For shopper Phoebe Fraser-Grant, making the most of the sales dotting downtown was hardly a sprint, it was more a marathon.
‘‘It’s been really good, very busy, I’m exhausted,’’ she said.
She had been in town for about four hours, stocking up on Christmas presents.
‘‘It started out that I was getting one thing, and I ended up getting heaps.’’
The gift wrappers at the front of the Meridian mall said they had been flat out yesterday morning, and a line of people eager to start their shopping had snaked down the street before the mall opened its doors.
At clothing store Decjuba, third-in-charge Shayna Ingham said staff met their daily sales target by 2pm.
‘‘We’ve been flat out since the minute we opened.’’
Otago Sports Depot owner Brent Davies said it had not been their biggest day of the year, but it was busier than usual.
But not everyone was thrilled with the rise of Black Friday.
Trade Aid store manager Dean Griffiths said he was ‘‘totally opposed’’ to Black Friday, as it supported mass production.
The day had been ‘‘bonkers’’, especially with the addition of cruise ship passengers in town, he said.
‘‘It’s good for Dunedin and the economy, but we look at the people at the other end of the consumer market and it’s not so good for them.’’
