Empty Newcastle streets as shoppers snub Black Friday

Despite stores like JD Sport, FootAsylum, and TK Maxx all having deals, alongside a range of other shops, Newcastle's Northumberland Street looked light on people on Friday (November 24). 

In the images, staff at JD Sport and FootAsylum can be seen standing around, as one or two people trickle in to see the Black Friday deals, while stickers and banners in shop windows reading 'Black Friday 50 per cent off' are blanked by people going to work. 

It's expected that 2023 will see people favour online retailers over high street stores, as a continuation of Amazon shopping for people becomes the norm. 

While shops across the North East have discounts, including Teesside Park, Dalton Park, and high streets in Durham, Darlington, Middlesbrough, Sunderland, and Newcastle, online sectors seem to be booming.

This was shown by Amazon saying that their Black Friday deals were "as busy as ever" and seeing no decline in popularity. 

David Tindal, general manager of Amazon’s Swindon fulfilment centre, its second largest in the UK, told the PA news agency that the site was preparing for its busiest time of the year, between Black Friday and Christmas, as the site’s more than 2,000 staff ship millions of items a week.

Mr Tindal said: “There’s a lot of talk about whether Black Friday’s past its peak.

“All I can say is from that from Amazon’s perspective it’s as busy as ever. We’re not seeing any sign of a decline.”

Mr Tindal oversees operations at the site, one of more than 30 across the UK, which has a footprint of 550,000 square feet, the size of about eight football pitches, and four levels.

Working alongside the staff are thousands of robots, and the combined workforce selects, packages and sends items from roughly 30 million in stock at the depot at any one time.

He said: “Black Friday’s really exciting. For us, the period from Black Friday through to Christmas is the busiest time of the year.

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“We spend 10 months getting ready for this. We’re expecting it all to run super smoothly.

“We’ll be really busy but it’s a really good fun time. We do a lot of fun activities with the individuals who are working here.

“I’ll get a chance to do quite a lot of the jobs in the building. It’s a great time of year.”