Teche Area shoppers looking for a quick deal were out early this morning to take advantage of a few Black Friday sales.

This year, 140 million holiday shoppers are likely to shop in stores or online during the Thanksgiving weekend, according to the National Retail Federation.

“These promotions are working. People are getting a lot of percentage off for a short amount of time,” Mark Gulotta, owner of Gulotta’s Workwear Outfitters, said early today. “We do a 50-percent off promotion and $50 off on special groups. We call it our 50/50 promotion.”

Gulotta said he received a rush of shoppers early in the morning. His goal was to attract the early shoppers who wanted to try to beat traffic.

Gulotta’s sale lasted from 7 a.m. to noon. Gulotta said his company makes four times as much in sales on Black Friday than it does any other shopping day.

“We probably make four times the average just on this day alone. These are values that the customers can see. It’s not like we’re selling something that’s the same price every year and we make it look like you’re getting a deal,” Gulotta said. 

“We got a lot of our regular customers coming in because they know we do this sale as well as some new customers. They know when they come to my store they don’t have to fight the traffic or fight other people to get a deal.”

Other stores are taking advantage of an influx of customers coming in by offering new deals.

For the first time, Stages on East Admiral Doyle Drive will offer customers $10 off any fragrances. Store manager Sandee Wagener said customers could look forward to getting a discount on multiple items in their store.

“We have over 600 items on sale in what we’re calling our ‘door buster’ sale,” Wagener said.

Stage’s sale began early at 6 a.m. and last until 3 p.m.

“They (shoppers) are just now starting to trickle in and the lines are getting pretty full,” Wagener said with a chuckle at 8 o’clock this morning.

Bonnie Breaux, a retail manager in New Iberia, had a rare day off on Black Friday, allowing her to catch some local deals on the day after Thanksgiving.

“This is my first Black Friday ever shopping. I’m usually on the other side of the counter,” Breaux said. “I’m going to shop for my little girl and do some shopping for my husband and family.”

Breaux, who came to shop for t-shirts at Gulotta, said she had a few more stops to make before she could go home.

Other customers knew exactly what they wanted.

“Boots. That’s it,” said Claire Bourque during her morning shopping trip. 

“I ride horses so I needed a new pair and they always have good sales on Black Friday.” 

Post-Thanksgiving holiday shopping is expected to grow this year by 1.7 percent. Bringing in roughly $8.4 billion as compared to last year’s $8.2 billion in holiday revenue.