Business & Tech
Kirkwood Wal-Mart Set for Black Friday
With work on the Kirkwood Wal-Mart parking lot complete, the store is ready to handle the rush of holiday shoppers.
Registers at the are expected to ring 9,000 times in the 24-hour period known as Black Friday. That's twice the transactions on a normal shopping day and store manager Chet Chapman is ready for the rush.
"Everybody is onboard for these big events with a 24-hour rotation of employees," he said.
Black Friday, while typically starting on the Friday after Thanksgiving, kicks off at 10 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day at the Kirkwood Wal-Mart with top toys and home apparel going on sale. At midnight on Friday, electronics will go on sale, and through the entire weekend starting at 8 a.m. Friday, a host of items will be on sale. Click here for all Walmart Black Friday deals.
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Last year shoppers at the Kirkwood Wal-Mart started lining up at noon on Thanksgiving Day in anticipation of the Black Friday discounts, according to Chapman.
Chapman said TVs and laptops are typically a big hit with Black Friday shoppers and noted two models that he predicts will be particularly popular this year: the Emerson 32-inch LCD TV for $188 and the HP 15-inch Dual-Core Laptop for $248.
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With such a large amount of shoppers expected to hit the Kirkwood Wal-Mart, the store will have a sales associate assigned to each Black Friday item.
"There are often accessories with some of the items, like computers," Chapman said. "An associate will be available to help answer any questions, as well as help carry items out of the store."
To help handle the rush of shoppers, Chapman said that Black Friday items will be placed strategically throughout the store. (see store map).
"Walmart has a lot of experience with black Fridays and we expect it to run pretty smoothly," the store manager said. "Last year it went really well for us."
Also a boon to the Kirkwood Wal-Mart during the shopping event will be that work on store's parking lot was completed a week ago.
Construction continues on converting the store into a Walmart Supercenter through the end of the year with the store taking possession of the addition in late January to prepare the space for customers, according to Chapman. Construction will not be visible to holiday shoppers. As part of the addition, the store will offer a full grocery section. The store currently offers dry food goods.
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