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Inside JCPenny on Black Friday

Julie Bercik

Story Created: Nov 27, 2009 at 11:19 AM CDT

Story Updated: Nov 27, 2009 at 11:37 AM CDT

Sales, sales and more sales. From 25 percent off to 60 percent, you’ll find all kinds of savings.
“I love it. JCPenny has the best sales,” said Mary Brown.
"I have been very impressed with a lot of the stuff we found in here,” said Antonio Hardaway. “ We found a lot of clothing, a lot of electronics and I have been very pleased."
‘We've done real well with outerwear. We have $200 jacket for $49.98,” said Bryan Cooke, JCPenny Store Manager. “Sweaters for $9.98 that are usually $40, doing real well with those this morning."
With door busters sales running through the afternoon, employees spent most of the morning re-stocking.
“It's very good so far,” said Cooke. “We're right in line with last year's figures, which was our goal today."
Peach Tree Mall opened at 6 a.m. but JCPenny opened at 3:30 a.m. to a crowd of customers.
“We let about 200 people in at 3:30,” said Cooke.
The heaviest traffic is in the Kids department, the home section following right behind.
"We came for the kitchen appliance they had on clearance,” said a customer. “Very good sales. “
So good, that this mother and daughter duo got everything on their list.
“We went yesterday afternoon and searched everything out at Wal-Mart,” they said.
Preparing for the busiest shopping day of the year doesn't happen over night. JCPenny has been preparing for this day for a month now. All 200 hundred employees are working, plus an additional 50 seasonal employees.
While retail analysts predict 85 percent of consumers are cutting back this season, that was not the case Friday morning. Most people are already over budget.
“We started out with a limit, we're over the limit by $100,” said Hardaway. “I'm already starting to count pennies now."
“I've gone over mine too, but hey, the sales are good,” said Brown.
Friday is just the start of the holiday madness. Most stores resume normal hours Saturday.
Peach Tree Mall opens 8 a.m. and closes at 10 p.m. Saturday.