Black Friday tradition: Stocking up on those socks

While many were home snug in their beds at 5 a.m. the day after Thanksgiving, quite a few people were pondering which socks to buy.

Black Friday tends to conjure up images of people frantically wheeling around shopping carts weighed down with oversize flat-screen televisions and electronic games. Soon after 5 a.m. at the south entrance of the Bakerview Fred Meyer store, however, more than 50 shoppers stood around tables, quietly debating things like sock texture and whether family members would prefer a low-cut or high cut-style.

The Fred Meyer sock sale on the day after Thanksgiving has evolved over the decades to become quite an event. While Thursday openings and online sales have taken a bit of the buzz out of Black Friday doorbusters, the sock sale at Fred Meyer is still a thing that draws customers back each year.

The sock sale started sometime in the late 1970s or early 1980s, and this year the company estimates it will sell more than 1.3 million pairs of socks between 5 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Black Friday at its 132 stores. At the two Bellingham Fred Meyer stores, more than 25,000 pairs of socks are expected to find new homes in that eight-hour period, said Melinda Merrill, a spokeswoman for the company.

Near the sock tables at the Bakerview store, workers handed out free coffee and mini doughnuts. Merrill said the Fred Meyer chain gives away 500,000 mini doughnuts, sells more than 100,000 board games (which were available as buy one, get one free), 80,000 towels and 30,000 throw blankets during those eight hours.

Socks can be the ultimate stocking stuffer, and many relatives in Sharon McCormick’s family look forward to getting them, she said. She was at the store with her daughter-in-law, Carly Stuth, hovering over one of the the tables of athletic socks.

McCormick said she’s been going to the sale for 14 years and it continues to get bigger each time. While saving 50 percent on socks is the big draw, she gets up when it is still dark the day after Thanksgiving because of the inventory.

“They bring in different socks for so many different age groups,” said McCormick, who is a Bellingham resident.

For Stuth, it is all about the texture as she tried to decide whether some Under Armour or Adidas athletic socks would make the grade. With a laugh, she said she is very particular about how the sock feels, but is all business as she looks over the tables filled with boxes of socks.

With so many socks available, some experienced Black Friday shoppers know they can focus on some other items first before making their way to the boxes of socks. Bellingham residents Dave and Marlene McIntosh made a beeline to the Christmas decoration section of the store and then over to electronics, but socks were definitely on their mind.

“You just can’t beat a good sock,” Dave McIntosh said, adding that he didn’t mind getting up early to get them because of the money they would save.

Despite the weak Canadian dollar, the Fred Meyer sock sale continues to attract British Columbia shoppers. Bruce Cox was up at 2 a.m. and drove down from Maple Ridge, which is near Coquitlam. Even with the Canadian dollar hovering around 75 cents compared to the U.S. dollar, the sock sale and gas are still good deals in the U.S., he said.

While shoppers were picking through the socks, holiday shopping looked a bit more subdued in the early morning hours of Black Friday around town, with the parking lot around Bellis Fair mall about half full. Much of the mall opened at 6 p.m. on Thursday.

This story was originally published November 27, 2015 at 12:10 AM with the headline "Black Friday tradition: Stocking up on those socks."