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COVID-19 has killed Black Friday.
What’s traditionally the busiest shopping day of the year was a real bust across the five boroughs — with the bug appearing to ward off the usual crowds from brick-and-mortar shops.
Social distancing was no problem at Queens Center, the borough’s largest mall in Elmhurst, which was dead early Friday morning compared to the storm of shoppers last year pre-coronavirus.
“I don’t know where they are,” said one shocked employee at JCPenney, where about a dozen customers milled about the jewelry department. “Scared. They are scared of the virus.
“They are online shopping.”
About 30 shoppers queued up outside Macy’s before it opened at 6 a.m. but the crowd had dissipated just a couple of hours later. The big-box retailer was peddling doorbusters like $19.99 watches and 40 percent off all boots and shoes.
“I got here at 7 (a.m.) but there was no line,” said Akhter Begum, 23, who opted for in-person retail therapy for good reason. “Sometimes online doesn’t show everything. Sometimes the size doesn’t work. Sometimes (items) look different from the pictures.”
One employee suggested the dearth of customers was due to the plethora of online sales merchandisers have been pushing for weeks now.
“We’ve been having Black Friday sales for three weeks now,” the worker said. “We had doorbuster sales two weeks ago. Maybe that’s why more people are not shopping today.”
Another employee hoped for business to pick up later on — once shoppers’ turkey coma wore off.
“I was expecting a big crowd,” she said. “Maybe later. They are resting from yesterday.”
At Macy’s, speakers blared reminders for customers to wear their masks and assured them that heavily trafficked areas were cleaned often. Hand sanitizing stations were also dotted throughout the store.
Down the road at Queens Place Mall, the Montoya family picked up a steal — $1,000 off a 65-inch Sony TV that originally retailed for $2,700.
They said while the boob tube has saved their sanity during the lockdown, it’s also sparked familial fights over who gets dibs first.
“Before the pandemic, we were always out so, normally, we wouldn’t have needed another TV,” said dad Niko Montoya.
“Now everybody is at home more, we watch more TV. My daughter wants to watch whatever she wants to watch, whenever she wants to watch it. We have to stand and wait our turn.”
Niko prefers to watch sports, while his wife Naoko binges on “Survivor” on Netflix. And their daughter, 17, checks out YouTube.
“The pandemic was behind our decision,” said Niko of buying a second TV for their household. “We have more time to watch TV and less time to argue.”
Meanwhile, in Manhattan, barriers were set up outside the Best Buy near Columbus Circle — but they weren’t needed by mid-morning, when Mauricio Solas walked right in to buy a VR headset.
“I’m pretty surprised,” the 17-year-old student said. “It’s always full every other time, so when you just get to go in and look around, and there is a lot of stock right now, so that’s also pretty cool.”
Overnight, a small crowd of masked patrons waited for Target on 34th Street to open.
This year’s Black Friday scenes in New York City paled in comparison to last year’s when lines streamed down blocks ahead of stores opening, including the now-deserted Columbus Circle Best Buy.
Additional reporting by Khristina Narizhnaya
