Retailers predict strong holiday sales, but gone are the days of the Black Friday craze

Retailers predict strong holiday sales, but gone are the days of the Black Friday craze

Is Black Friday madness gone for good?

The “doorbuster deals” and overnight shopping sprees that once defined retail’s biggest day were more difficult to find Friday than that perfect gift for your finicky father-in-law.

Online shopping and months-long promotions have been draining the day after Thanksgiving of its chaotic punch for years, but the Bay Area’s first post-vaccine Black Friday revealed it’s become much more mellow than it used to be — even in what retail analysts are predicting will be a record-setting holiday season for retailers.

At shopping malls in San Jose and the East Bay, the number of shoppers could be counted in the dozens rather than the hundreds when many of the stores first opened at 7 a.m.

Patricia DiSilva and Hannah Arrington could hardly believe the lack of competition when they lined up at GameStop before doors opened at Westfield Oakridge in San Jose. They live close enough to walk to the mall in order to avoid what they assumed would be a crowded parking lot.

“We were trying to beat the traffic,” Arrington said.

“But there was no traffic to beat,” DiSilva said.

Shopping centers in the Bay Area grew busier in the late morning and early afternoon, with crowds more comparable to a typical weekend shopping day. But the scene was a departure from years ago when crowds gathered overnight to storm into stores for deals and wade through throngs of shoppers to scope out big bargains. It’s an online world these days, and deals are available throughout the holiday season.

“It’s not so much Black Friday now as it is Black Month,” said Obi Elendu, 25, who was waiting to pick something up at an otherwise empty Vans store at the Sunvalley Shopping Center in Concord on Friday morning. “So there’s time and there are deals.”

Or, as 28-year-old Shannon Smoak said as she pumped gas outside a Safeway neighboring the mall. “You can get everything you need on Cyber Monday anyway.”

Local retailers say people have started on their shopping earlier this year, heeding warnings that supply chain issues threaten to delay goods arriving in time for Christmas.

Kirsten Wincor, manager of Legends Comics & Games store in the Oakridge mall, said she has talked with a lot of customers in recent weeks, and “all of them spoke about getting ahead on the holiday shopping.”

COVID-19 has also had a lasting impact. Throughout the Sunvalley mall were the stark reminders of the pandemic that has lingered across two holiday seasons now: signs to stay away if feeling any symptoms linked to COVID-19 and to mask up inside and maintain social distancing.

Despite lower COVID-19 rates and the presence of the vaccine over last year’s shopping season, people still may be wary of rushing into huge retail crowds, Kirthi Kalyanam, director of Santa Clara University’s Retail Management Institute, said this week.

“I don’t think people are as comfortable doing that (since the pandemic),” Kalyanam said.

Another thing that has spooked shoppers this year is recent reports of organized gangs descending on trendy stores for smash-and-grab robberies across the region.

William Miller, 52, and his wife and young daughter came from Vallejo to the Broadway Plaza in Walnut Creek to do their shopping Friday, even after hearing how 80 thieves targeted the Nordstrom there last week.

“If you look around, there are women walking around with purses around their neck. I’ve got my wallet in my front pocket,” he said. “It’s sad it’s come to that.”

Nearby, as a handful of people gathered around the Christmas tree, Tee Nguyen who was shopping with her mother and two children said she would no longer come at night.

“We like to see lights, but it’s not worth it this year,” she said. “We wanted to get in and out and get it done.”

Some of the changes that retailers were forced to make during COVID-19 have lasted. Target, for example, kept its stores closed on Thanksgiving again this year and spread out holiday deals to “minimize crowding in its stores.” Target CEO Brian Cornell told employees in a letter that the retail chain would keep its stores closed on Thanksgiving going forward.

Shoppers are also using retailers’ curbside pickup options, which became popular during the pandemic. On Thanksgiving Day, curbside pickup was used in 21% of all online orders among retailers who offer that service, according to the Adobe Digital Economy Index, which analyzes direct consumer transactions online.

Still, experts were predicting that stores would see some crowds throughout the weekend.

Consumers spent $5.1 billion on Thanksgiving and were expected to spend between $8.8 billion and $9.6 billion on Black Friday, according to Adobe. That was the low end of the range Adobe had predicted, but it was still an uptick over average daily spending.

And holiday sales throughout the season are expected to grow this year. The National Retail Federation — the largest retail trade group in the U.S. — predicts sales will increase between 8.5% and 10.5% over last year, when holiday sales already increased 8% from the year before.

Amid the strong sales predictions, retailers are concerned about supply-chain issues that may keep them from restocking hot items.

Nessa Rodriguez, of Bay Point, said she was worried about finding the items on her list because of those supply issues, but by the late morning Friday she didn’t have a problem finding things at the Sunvalley Shopping Center.

“I found everything I wanted,” she said.

Staff writer Martha Ross contributed reporting.

Hanukkah arrives early in 2021. Here’s how to celebrate in the Bay Area

The Jewish holiday of Hanukkah won’t be sharing a spotlight with Christmas in 2021, as it is set to begin the evening of Sunday, Nov. 28, and continue until the evening of Dec. 6.

Here’s what you need to know about the celebration, and how to celebrate it in the Bay Area.

What are the origins of Hanukkah?

The annual celebration of lights begins on the 25th day of the third month in the Hebrew lunisolar calendar (Kislev). The Maccabean uprising put an end to Antiochus IV’s (175-163 B.C.) persecution of Jews in Jerusalem. The subsequent rebuilding and rededication of the Jewish temple form the historical roots of the holiday.

According to the Talmud, once worshipers returned to the temple after the revolt, they were left with only one day’s worth of oil to light the lamps in the sanctuary. During the rededication of the temple, the menorah lamp was lit with that small amount of oil. Instead of lasting only one day, it stayed lit for eight full days. Thus began the tradition of lighting candles for eight nights during Hanukkah, symbolizing this “miracle of the oil.”

Along with lighting candles, delicious things to eat that have oil or fats as a star ingredient — like sufganiyot (filled doughnuts) and latkes — are typically enjoyed during the eight-day celebration.

What do the dreidels represent?

The four-sided dreidel top has a letter on each side forming the acronym “Nes Gadol Haya Sham,” which translates to “a great miracle happened there” in reference to the long-lasting oil. A game is played with them, which features the winning (and losing) of chocolate coins (gelt).

Celebrate in the Bay Area with public menorah lightings

Bill Graham Menorah Project: Hanukkah in Union Square

You might call Bill Graham the “father” of giant public menorah lightings, as he popularized the trend back in 1975 with the first public lighting of the large “mama menorah” in Union Square. This year’s 46th annual event will feature craft activities, kids entertainment with Ari Lesser and live music with Saul Kaye and others. There will be both in-person and live-streamed attendance options this year.

2-6 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 28; 4:30-5:30 p.m. Monday-Thursday, Nov. 29-Dec. 2 and Dec. 5; 3-3:20 p.m. Friday, Dec. 3; 8-9 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 4. Free. Live stream available on the the ChabadSF Facebook channel. Union Square Plaza, 333 Post St., S.F. billgrahammenorah.org

Light Up the Night Hanukkah Festival

The evening celebration features lighting the first night candles on a giant menorah made of ice, as well as live music, latkes and more.

4-6 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 28. Free. Montgomery Village, 911 Village Court, Santa Rosa. 707-577-0277. jewishsonoma.com

Alameda Community Menorah Lighting and Hanukkah Celebration

The fifth annual event will feature latkes, doughnuts, gelt, an LED lights and fire juggling show, balloon twisting, bounce slides, holiday craft activities, Hanukkah music, and a 9-foot-tall menorah made entirely of Lego bricks to light. The menorah lighting will take place at 5:15 p.m.

4:30-6:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 28. Free, registration required. Rittler Park, 1400 Otis Drive, Alameda. jewishalameda.com

Community Hanukkah Candle Lighting and Celebration

Come with friends and family to welcome the light of Hanukkah together. Enjoy latkes, holiday treats and activities. Jonathan Bayer will lead holiday songs and light the menorah at 6 p.m.

5:30-7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 30. Free, vaccination proof for those eligible, masking and registration required. Golden Gate Park Bandshell, Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive, Golden Gate Park, S.F. emanuelsf.org

Dreidels and Lights Hanukkah Celebration and Menorah Lighting

The holiday season begins at Bon Air with a celebration that includes a menorah lighting, dreidel kits and seasonal goodies. The menorah will be lit nightly at 5 p.m.

5 p.m. Wednesday-Monday, Dec. 1-6. Free. Bon Air Center, 50 Bon Air Center, Greenbrae. 415-461-0200. bonair.com

Foster City Outdoor Community Candle Lighting and Hanukkah Celebration

Peninsula Sinai, the Peninsula Jewish Community Center, Wornick Jewish Day School, Jewish Baby Network, and Jewish Family and Children’s Services present a community candle lighting and party with doughnuts, dreidels, live music, latkes, gelt, trivia and more.

7-8 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 1. Free, registration required. Leo J. Ryan Park, 650 Shell Blvd., Foster City. 650-212-7522. pjcc.org

Hanukkah Celebration at Stanford Shopping Center

Celebrate the Jewish festival of lights with a live music and puppet show by Octopretzel, arts and crafts activities, dreidel games, and a menorah lighting ceremony with Rabbi Heath from Congregation Beth Am.

4:45-6:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 2. Free. Stanford Shopping Center, Palo Alto. 650-223-8700 paloaltojcc.org

Beth Chaim Hanukkah Celebration and Menorah Lighting

An outdoor holiday event with giant menorah lighting, live music from Nathaniel Markman, dancing with Bruce Bierman, Hanukkah treats, craft activities, hot drinks and more.

5:30-7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 4. Free, registration required. Blackhawk Plaza, 3380 Blackhawk Plaza Circle, Danville. 925-736-7146. bethchaim.com

Novato Hanukkah Celebration and Menorah Lighting

Featuring a drone menorah, LED lights and fire show, latkes, doughnuts, live music, and a public menorah lighting.

4 p.m. Dec. 5. Free, registration required. Outside City Hall, 901 Sherman Ave., Novato. 415-878-6770. jewishnovato.com

Other events and exhibitions

Maccabee Mitzvah and Hanukkah Party

Join a mitzvah team and work in the garden, help prepare party food, paint or decorate before the holiday celebration that follows. The party is scheduled to include food and drinks, dreidel decorating, candle making, cookie decorating, live music, dance, dramatic performances and more. Attendees are encouraged to bring their menorahs from home to light together.

1-4 p.m. mitzvah event; 4-6 p.m. holiday party, Sunday, Nov. 28. Free, reservations required. Congregation Beth Sholom, S.F. 415-221-8736. bethsholomsf.org

Hanukkah Farm Festival with Eden Village West

Celebrate the first night of Hanukkah with Urban Adamah and Eden Village West. Spend an afternoon on the farm exploring gardens, apple cider pressing, beeswax candle-making workshops, baking tutorials, live music, menorah lighting and more.

1:30-5:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 28. Free-$54, registration required. Urban Adamah, 1151 Sixth St., Berkeley. 510-649-1595. urbanadamah.org

Projecting Light in the Darkness

Drive or walk by Congregation Emanu-El on Arguello Boulevard after sundown to view multimedia storyteller Ben Wood’s large-scale light installation featuring local Jewish history, interweaving holiday and archival images projected on the building’s facade.

On view beginning Sunday, Nov. 28. Through Dec. 6. Free. Congregation Emanu-El, 2 Lake St., S.F. 415-751-2535. emanuelsf.org

Petaluma Hanukkah Celebration and Drone Gelt Drop

Learn about the power of light over darkness and right over might at Chabad’s seventh annual holiday event, featuring a 9-foot-tall menorah, chocolate gelt dropped from a drone, fire juggling, dreidel carving, latkes, jelly doughnuts, live DJ set, Dancing Dreidels performance, face painting and more.

4:30-6 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 28. Free, donations encouraged. Registration required. Sonoma-Marin Fairgrounds, 175 Fairgrounds Drive, Petaluma. 707-559-8585. jewishpetaluma.com

2021 Jewish Collegiate A Capella Competition

College vocal ensembles from around the country compete for a panel of lauded judges and audiences on the first night of Hanukkah. Both in-person and live-stream attendance options are available.

5 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 28. Free, RSVP dstephens@bshalom.org for required registration. Live stream viewing available on the B’nai Shalom Facebook channel. Congregation B’nai Shalom, 74 Eckley Lane, Walnut Creek. 925-934-9446. bshalom.org

Filoli Hanukkah Night

Show some seasonal spirit and join an illuminated nighttime holiday event in the garden. Come dressed with a Hanukkah theme and receive a gift.

4-8 p.m. Monday, Nov. 29. $20-$38, under 5 free. Registration required. Filoli House and Gardens, 86 Cañada Road, Woodside. 650-364-8300. filoli.org

Music & Puppets Virtual Hanukkah Show with Octopretzel

Join Melita Silberstein and Jen Altman of the Bay Area kids band on the third night of Hanukkah for a program of traditional, interactive holiday songs, candle lighting and a lively puppet show.

5 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 30. $25, registration required. Online event. melitamusic.com

Light and Illumination: Bringing Joy Into the Winter Holidays

Bring light into the darkness of winter with candle lighting, storytelling and delicious holiday treats. JCCSF teachers Maggid Jhos Singer and Rabbi Batshir Torchio will lead this online Hanukkah event in which attendees can share stories and recipes, bring in the light together, and learn about origins and contemporary relevance of the holiday customs.

5-6 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 2. Free. Online event. Registration required. 415-292-1200. jccsf.org

Choir! Choir! Choir! Presents: Epic ‘Hallelujah’ Singalong

Presented in partnership with the Contemporary Jewish Museum, and led by creative directors Daveed Goldman and Nobu Adilman, the evening program will be part singing, part comedy and a whole lot of community building. Attendees will receive a lyric sheet to help get their Hanukkah sing-along groove on with holiday tunes, including Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.”

7-8:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 2. $20, vaccination proof and registration required. Kanbar Hall, SFJCC, 3200 California St., S.F. 415-292-1200. jccsf.org

Chanukah Havdallah with NFTY

Bay Area high schoolers are invited to join an afternoon of fun, friends, pizza and holiday goodies in this outdoor event led by teens and Cantor Arik Luck.

2-6 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 4. $20, vaccination proof, negative rapid test and registration required. Congregation Emanu-El courtyard, 2 Lake St., S.F. 415-51-2535. emanuelsf.org

Kitka: Wintersongs

Join Kitka’s voices, reunited and returning to the stage after nearly two years of pandemic separation, in an evening celebration of songs with the intention to bestow blessings for health, hope, peace, good fortune and light as the winter solstice and a new year draw near.

1 and 7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 4 at 222 Performing Arts Center, Healdsburg; 2 and 8 p.m. Dec. 11 at Freight and Salvage, 2020 Addison St., Berkeley. $30-$70, vaccination proof and reservations required. 510-444-0323. kitka.org

CJM ArtBash Live: Hanukkah

Celebrate Hanukkah with a creative project exploring darkness and light. People of all ages and backgrounds are invited. Reserve a kit through registration or gather the supplies needed on your own before tuning in to the live stream event.

10-11 a.m. Dec. 5. The Contemporary Jewish Museum will provide an ArtKit containing supplies that can be picked up from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Dec. 2-4 at the museum or from several other locations. Free, registration required. Online event. Contemporary Jewish Museum, 736 Mission St., S.F. 415-655-7800. thecjm.org

Hanukkah Inside and Out

The Osher Marin JCC’s family-friendly holiday party is scheduled to include live music, crafts, games, jelly doughnuts, holiday activities and more.

11 a.m.-2 p.m. Dec. 5. Free, registration required. Osher Marin JCC, 200 N. San Pedro Road, San Rafael. 415-444-8000. marinjcc.org

2021 Menorahs and Miracles

Take joy in sharing your own culture and discovering traditions of your neighbors in a family-friendly event featuring candle making; dreidel games; latkes; a “miracle” scavenger hunt; story times in Hebrew, Russian and English; a Hanukkah video; and finally, a parade in front of the museum to sing and light the menorah.

1:30-4:30 p.m. Dec. 5. Included with museum admission. Children’s Discovery Museum, 180 Woz Way, San Jose. 408-298-5437. cdm.org

Glowing Hanukkah Party Pop-Up

Dress up in a favorite light-up, glittery or glow-in-the-dark outfit for the return of the JCCSF’s popular holiday party at Ghirardelli Square. The family-friendly event is scheduled to include a menorah lighting, live glowing piano music with Luminescent Grand, Hanukkah dreidel games, craft activities, tasty treats and more.

3-6 p.m. Dec. 5. Free, registration required. Ghirardelli Square, 900 North Point St., S.F. 415-292-1200. jccsf.org

Hanukkah-Palooza: Miracles and Magic

Have family fun at a party with performances from Jeremy the Juggler and magician David Martinez; Hanukkah crafts and games; food trucks; and a community candle lighting. Donations of canned goods for the on-site food drive are encouraged.

3-5 p.m. Dec. 5. Free, vaccination proof for those eligible and registration required. Koret Field, Peninsula JCC, 800 Foster City Blvd., Foster City. 650-378-2703. pjcc.org

Oy, Hanukkah! Festival of Lights Celebration

Singer and lecturer Mark Levy is set to host a virtual holiday experience, taking guests on a journey through old and new worlds with traditional songs in Yiddish, Ladino, Hebrew, Russian and English. On this final day of the holiday, attendees are encouraged to light candles and commemorate the liberation and rededication of the Temple.

1-2 p.m. Dec. 6. Free, online event. Registration required. 415-292-1200. jccsf.org

Veretski Pass Klezmer Trio Hanukkah Concert

A program of music with dances from Moldavia and Bessarabia; Jewish melodies from Poland and Rumania; Hutzul wedding music from Carpathian-Ruthenia and Rebetic airs from Smyrna and original compositions. With violin/violist Cookie Segelstein; Stuart Brotman, bass/cello/shepherd’s flute/bass drum; and Joshua Horowitz, chromatic button accordion/cimbalom/piano.

4 p.m. Dec. 6. $15-$25, vaccination proof and registration required. St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, 1501 Washington Ave., Albany. calliope-ebma.org

Happy Joyous Hanukkah with the Klezmatics

The Grammy Award-winning ensemble featuring Lorin Sklamberg, Matt Darriau, Lisa Gutkin, Frank London, Paul Morrissett and Richie Barshay returns to celebrate the Festival of Lights with seasonal music from its holiday album, which sets previously unused lyrics by Woody Guthrie to original compositions.

7:30 p.m. Dec. 16. $25-$65, reservations required. SFJazz, 201 Franklin St., S.F. 866-920-5299. sfjazz.org

The Bay Area’s Ring Mountain Preserve may be the platonic ideal of a post-Thanksgiving hike

I have a friend, born and raised on a Sausalito houseboat, a longtime San Francisco journalist turned criminal investigator, who knows the Bay Area better than I could ever hope to. For a while now, during the pandemic, he’s been taking a day hike each Sunday. It’s his designated time for wandering off on this or that trail, for eyeing the boundaries of our imperfect metropolis — a place surrounded by nature so spectacular it sometimes overshadows the city itself. So when I’m searching for a specific kind of local hike, I don’t ask Google or AllTrails, I ask “Uncle Joanie.”

But whatever Jonah’s Bay Area credentials, he’s not a mind-reader. When I asked him for the perfect day-after-Thanksgiving hike, he looked at me — not for the first time in our many-year friendship — like I might be one oar short of a pair. What, he wanted to know, makes that hike different from any other?

Freda Moon

I had a whole Goldilocks-style checklist in mind: I wanted a hike that was both hard and easy, neither too long nor too short; one that got us out of the city, but wasn’t too much of a drive. I wanted somewhere new-to-me that wasn’t crowded. Ultimately, I wanted a hike that delivered some kind of a plot twist or payoff, something to shake us from our post-feasting drowsiness and after-holiday letdown — a hike that was more than a walk, more than “exercise.” And it wouldn’t hurt if that hike had a place nearby to grab a drink after.

Put a ring on it

Freda Moon

When we pulled up to the Phyllis Ellman trailhead, Jonah was already there, sitting on his back bumper in cowboy boots and a vest, a Northern California outfit if ever there was one. My husband, Tim, razzed him about his getup in that way of friends-who-are-family. Unlike so many Bay Area parks on a Sunday like this — a cloudless, 70-degree Northern California November day — the Paradise Cove entrance to Ring Mountain Open Space Preserve had, at most, a dozen cars parked at its trailhead.

To get there from our East Bay boat-home, we’d crossed the San Rafael-Richmond bridge, gotten off I-580 at Sir Francis Drake Boulevard, passed the Larkspur ferry terminal and the Corte Madera mall and, before the kids could ask how long we’d be in the car, we’d arrived — a traffic-free half-hour cruise from chomping on breakfast burritos to setting off on our muddy way.

Freda Moon

That’s how the four of us — me, my husband Tim and our kids, who are an adventurous six and a very enthusiastic three — found ourselves following Jonah up, and up, and up a slippery mudslide of a trail along a mossy, rocky, gurgling creek, through chaparral and gnarled fortresses of scrub oak, to the open pastures of the former Reed Ranch. The property once belonged to John Thomas Reed, who the Belvedere-Tiburon Landmarks Society’s newsletter describes as “possibly the first Irishman to permanently locate on the Pacific coast, and the first English-speaking resident of Marin County.”

The ranch was operational until the 1960s, though it had been divided into smaller and smaller parcels as it was passed down from generation to generation and sold off for suburban development. What remains at Ring Mountain is 387 acres, miles of trail and fire roads climbing from the Bay to the ridges and branching out in all directions.

Freda Moon

From Paradise Cove, our pack of five took the Loop Trail, a narrow path lined with tufts of grass, bright from the most recent storm. It was surprisingly wet considering that rain was days ago now — a landscape of trickling streams, ferns and moss, lichen-painted rocks and odd little wooden bridges.

“It reminds me of Scotland somehow,” said Jonah.

Then, a few breaths later, on a ridge overlooking Paradise Cove’s most notable, and notorious, structure: “It’s the best view of San Quentin you’ll get anywhere.”

And both were true.

Freda Moon

The big reveal

From the San Rafael side of the preserve, our hike — to the backbone of the Tiburon Peninsula — was just over half a mile. While it was maybe a 40-minute trek, it was steep enough for me to break a sweat, to find myself catching my breath now and then.

There were moments of wonder along the way: a stairway of rock through a tunnel of trees, a blizzard of cotton-like drift seeds, fortresses of old oak that Jonah called the “Queens of the Hill,” carved and misshapen and dripping with character. One grew out of a rock ledge, which Roxie and Felix scurried onto, hamming it up in their “castle.” Another had a dinner-plate-sized hole in its trunk that had filled with water, turning it into a tiny pond, where the kids “fished” with sticks.

Freda Moon

At the top, the trail opened into a meadow and Ring Mountain’s Turtle Rock, and an aptly named boulder, maybe 20-feet-tall, rose before us. It looked like a massively oversized turtle on a rock, a terrapin basking in the sun. We scaled it from the side, pushing my three-year-old up the smooth surface and plopping him in the center, a safe spot to shovel salami and cheese and leftover Halloween candy into his mouth along with the rest of us. We picnicked atop the rock, a 360-degree view across Richardson Bay to Sausalito and the Golden Gate, the Bay Bridge and Treasure Island, and the San Francisco skyline, a toy-sized city in the distance.

Freda Moon

The entire hike was maybe two hours. The way the various parks and trails on Tiburon Peninsula are interconnected, we could have walked all the way to the town’s shore — or, in reverse, arrived by ferry from the city and hiked to Ring Mountain from there, but that was too ambitious of an outing for this, the platonic ideal of a post-Thanksgiving Bay Area day. So instead we hopped in our cars and drove the 15 minutes to Tiburon’s immaculate downtown, a place where the houses on the hill are the size of hotels and nearly every car is a Tesla, Porsche, Jaguar or Benz.

We chased our hike, per my Goldilocks wish, with drinks on the above-the-water deck at Sam’s, a century-old fish shack that is no longer remotely shack-like. That hike, and that spicy Bloody Mary, proved the perfect antidote for post-holiday blues. Once again, our faith in Uncle Joanie had paid off.

Freda Moon

Freda Moon

Freda Moon

Freda Moon

Freda Moon

Freda Moon