Black Friday chaos lessened by online shopping

A lot of people who were out Black Friday shopping said that today wasn’t much different than a typical Friday because they did most of their shopping online using their smartphones.

“I don’t know what’s going on, I think people are probably waiting to buy stuff online, I mean that’s what I’m going to do this year so.”

Most people expect doorbuster deals, crowded parking lots, long lines and a lot of chaos. But shopper Reid Antonacchio got a bit of a surprise when he got to the Target on Pine Ridge Road.

“I get in there and the self checkout line was empty, it took me two seconds to check out it was totally not what I was expecting,” Antonacchio said.

Another unexpected sight for shoppers were Collier County Sheriff’s deputies patrolling the parking lots on horseback.

“We found one car already that the doors was left open and there were some valuables inside,” said Sergeant Tiffany Castle, CCSO Horse Patrol. “We’re trying to keep people safe and educate people when needed.”

The deputies say that horses allow them to scout the area much quicker than patrolling in a squad car.

But Walkens Lallemand says with so many people turning to websites like Amazon, eBay, Target and Walmart, there are little to no crowds.

“A lot of the big retail stores, have to combat the online availability, but a lot of them that are really smart about their marketing strategy, they make it available for in store pickup,” Lallemand said. “It makes it easy for consumers like us to access.”

Reid says the days of doorbusting chaos may officially be put to rest in Collier County.

“We’d get up at like 10 o’clock at night and we’d say all right we’re getting ready at four in the morning and we’re going to be first ones in line, but this year I don’t think we needed to do that, but like you said our generation different story,” Antonacchio said.

Regardless, the sheriff’s office says they will be on patrol through the night to make sure everything runs smoothly.