Black Friday shopping in Bay County

PANAMA CITY, Fla. (WJHG/WECP) - Shoppers are flocked to several stores on Friday to take advantage of all the latest Black Friday deals and steals.

Ashlyn Smoot is from North Carolina, but today she was in Panama City shopping with loved ones. She says she scored a big bargain.

“We got two TVs, an air fryer, a coffee machine, a little ninja, some little firestick stuff, and some echo devices. We saved a lot of money, Smoot said. I saved about 800 dollars on it, so a good little day shopping.”

Ethan Bartlett bought himself a brand-new Nest Learning Thermostat.

“I think it’s about 250 (dollars) and today it was 180 (dollars), so a little 70-dollar discount, said Bartlett. “That’s not bad.”

Jenna Baughman came down from Destin to enjoy the holidays with family and shop. She said shopping with the people you love is much more fun than doing it alone. She and her family made a list of all the places they would drop by today.

“Well, Academy Sports was our first place because we didn’t want to get up any earlier than that. Then we’re going to hit Home Depot and Lowes to see if they have anything good, Best Buy, and dollar general was on the list. They got some gift card deals,” she said.

Cody Johnson is the Hardlines Manager at Academy Sports+Outdoors. He says Black Friday is good for buyers and businesses too.

“You know we’re trying to fill up their baskets. Of course, you got holidays around the corner,” Johnson said. “For us, Black Friday is really important, it’s really the kickoff for the holiday, you know the next big thing is Christmas right around the corner.”

The day after Thanksgiving is one of the most profitable days for big box stores. Black Friday also marks the official start of the holiday shopping season.

According to Walden University, the term Black Friday originated in Philadelphia. It was used by police to describe the chaos and mischief that would go on during the annual army-navy football game that took place the Saturday following Thanksgiving.

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