Transcript Bulletin carriers will deliver over one pound of newsprint to subscribers on Wednesday evening.
Along with Tooele County news, the Wednesday edition of the Transcript Bulletin will have 18 inserts and other advertisements for Black Friday shopping.
The size of Wednesday’s paper indicates a positive outlook by local merchants for the 2015 holiday shopping season.
“We had a great Black Friday last year and we are looking forward to another great Black Friday this year,” said Frank Liddiard, owner of Liddiard Home Furnishing.
Holiday shopping is a busy time for auto sales and Performance Auto Mall Tooele is anticipating a busy Black Friday as well, according to Jack Bell, new car inventory manager for Performance Auto Mall Tooele.
“We’ve already kicked off our Black Friday specials,” he said. “We expect to see an increase in sales this year based on lower gas prices, good credit opportunities, and increased consumer confidence.”
Local merchants’ expectations for good holiday sales mirror national forecasts.
Holiday retail sales, defined as sales during the months of November and December, are expected to increase by 4.1 percent over last year to $620 billion in 2014, according to the National Retail Federation, a Washington, D.C.-based trade association of retail storeowners.
“Overall, we expect holiday spending to reflect recent economic momentum,” said Jack Kleinhenz, economist for NRF, in a press release explaining the NRF holiday sales forecast. “The economy is expanding and there doesn’t appear to be any distinct shift away from the moderate pace of growth.”
Improved employment, income and consumer confidence, along with improved credit conditions, will contribute to better holiday sales in 2014, according to a NRF report.
However, consumer confidence may be erratic and hard to interpret, according to Kleinhenz.
Black Friday traditionally has been the biggest shopping day of the year followed by the Saturday before Christmas, known as Super Saturday, according to ShopperTrak, a Chicago-based company that collects and analyzes sales data for retail stores and shopping malls
However, that trend will reverse itself as “holiday creep” siphons more sales away from Black Friday, according to ShopperTrak.
“Our numbers show, over the last three years, that Thursday [Thanksgiving Day] sales are growing at a pretty rapid pace,” said ShopperTrak founder Bill Martin. “It’s leaching sales from Black Friday.”
With more stores opening on Thanksgiving, along with stores that have opened on Thanksgiving in the past offering extended hours this year, ShopperTrak advises that 2014 may be the year that Super Saturday out performs Black Friday.
Retailers start their holiday promotions earlier every year to accommodate consumers that start holiday shopping earlier each year, according to the NRF.
A survey by the NRF found that 40 percent of consumers planned to start their holiday shopping before Halloween in 2014.
Not all retail outlets have slid Black Friday bargains into Thursday.
Some stores in Tooele that will open on Thanksgiving Day include Walgreens, Family Dollar, Walmart and Sears.
Holding off until Black Friday are Liddiard Home Furnishing, Home Depot, Big 5 Sporting Goods and JoAnn Fabric and Crafts.
See the inserts and ads in Wednesday’s Transcript Bulletin for more stores along with details on hours and holiday specials.