Black Friday shoppers find deals, safety precautions at Academy Sports

JACKSON, Tenn. — The year changes, but some things stay the same. Bright and early at 5 a.m., shoppers filed in to Academy Sports and Outdoors for Black Friday.

“We’re pretty excited to be out, yeah it’s a tradition,” said shopper Nita Zeznanski.

“They were extra,” said shopper Gwen Wilson. “They couldn’t be any better.”

WBBJ visited Academy Sports last year for Black Friday as well, and the crowd was certainly smaller this year. That’s mainly because of online ordering and in-store pickup, which has reduced the early morning rush crowd.

“We had a lot of orders going so far through the week, up to this point,” said Academy’s operations manager, Jeffrey McCartney. “They came in for the special deals of the day, and then you know, people have been buying. But it’s pretty busy through the store.”

Along with the deals, customers also found all types of safety measures.

“Everybody is wearing their mask, everybody is social distancing, and that it is important for us to make sure our store is clean and all of that too, to keep all the germs away,” McCartney said.

In addition to the mask requirement, employees sanitized all carts and baskets, and the people we talked to said this helped.

“We did take precautions, and we noticed the store precautions,” said Zeznanski. “But everybody is still super happy and joyful, so we’re good.”

And if you need an uplifting holiday story today, Gwen Wilson talked to us about her special needs son, Dusty, who wanted a ping pong table.

“When I came in, they told me they were all sold. But this fantastic gentlemen looked and he found me one. So I’m top of the world right now,” Wilson said. “Cause my son had his heart set on this, and I never dreamed I’d get the last one here. That was a blessing.”

The store will remain open until 11 Friday night.