Nick Chan of San Francisco, visiting friends in Acadia, had only heard of the shopping frenzy that is Cabazon the day after Thanksgiving.
Expecting to find some good deals, he and three friends from the University of California, Davis, joined thousands of visitors looking for deals at the trendy retail outlet shops that make up the Cabazon Outlets and the adjacent Desert Hills Premium Outlets.
Together, he and his friends had already visited Aldo, Diesel and Tod’s by mid-day.
Heidi Ou of Irvine, wanted to show her mother Jane Ou, who was visiting from China, what the Cabazon shopping experience was like on a typical Black Friday — known as the official kick-off (and usually most profitable day) of the holiday retail season.
According to Ou, who interpreted her mother’s observations, Cabazon appeared busy and pleasant.
“She likes it,” Ou said. They were carrying bags of goods from the Banana Republic and Factory Brand Shoes.
Rana Mansour of Cairo, Egypt was one of hundreds willing to wait in a long line that snaked back and forth in a roped off area next to the Burberry store. She drove in from Los Angeles, where she was visiting her brother at USC.
Mansour, 23, ended up spending $440 on a bag and a T-shirt at Burberry.
“I came for the shopping. They have great discounts,” she said.
Bert Bangayan of Los Angeles spent $300 for items at Decco and UGG, shopping for his fiance. By mid-morning, “We just did that half,” Bangayan said, pointing to the eastern series of shops. “We just came taking advantage of the sales.”
Sik Kaifa Memo and Amcik Hasen of Istanbul, Turkey, drove in from visiting relatives in Los Angeles.
“There are lots of prizes” for those who choose Cabazon over retail experiences in Los Angeles, Memo said. “Prices here are a lot cheaper than in our country.” The couple took advantage of discounts at Banana Republic and Prada.
The outlet malls certainly cater to their international visitors. In between playing holiday music, occasional greetings were announced over the loudspeakers in Japanese, Korean and Chinese.
Paul Shin, 14, of Irvine, came with his family.
“I’m just shopping for clothes, because it’s cheaper here than in Irvine,” he said, holding on to bags from Polo Ralph Lauren. He claimed to have spent nearly $500 on Christmas presents, mainly sweaters and name-brand T-shirts.
Carol Tseng, 26, and Young Chang, 27, of Taipei, Taiwan, drove six hours from San Francisco, where they are college students, to join shoppers.
They said they were going to visit relatives in Los Angeles – but not before spending $200 on deals at Diesel and Kate Spade.
“I did research on the Internet, looking for the best deals,” and Cabazon was the destination of choice, according to Tseng.
Sean Tran of Westminster took an early two-hour drive to avoid traffic in order to visit Cabazon with his two younger nephews.
“I like Black Friday. Everything’s on sale,” Tran said. “The outlet deals are good” enough that he had spent $600 at Armani Exchange, Dolce & Gabana, and Gucci.
Not everyone was thrilled with their Cabazon shopping experience: Chuck Galvan of Roland Heights peered through a Coach store window, coaching his wife via cell phone on the other side of the glass as to which merchandise he would approve paying for.
A line monitor outside the door only allowed so many people in at a time, and since Galvan let his wife off in order to go search for hard-to-find parking, he did not get to the line in time to be let in.
“The only way I can come in is if she comes out,” Galvan said, noticeably irritated. “I’m the one with the checkbook. She can’t buy anything in there. The only way this is going to work is if she comes to the door with the stuff and comes out, and I go in and buy it for her.”
He was willing to sacrifice the lines and parking inconvenience to appease his wife, Grace.
“She likes to experience Black Friday. She just wants a purse to match her blue outfit,” Galvan explained.
John Sastos stood outside a store, tasked with holding several bags while his wife was inside shopping.
They came down from Toronto, Canada, and were out visiting their son at UCLA.
“We came for the big sales here,” he said. “We’ve spent $200 so far, but who knows what will change when they come out.” So far, he was lugging around bags from Polo Ralph Lauren, Timberland and Tommy Hilfiger.
Mario Gonzalez of Mexico City, vacationing in Los Angeles with his family, came to take advantage of reputed day-after Thanksgiving discounts.
“We were told it was cheaper here,” he said. As to whether it really was cheaper to shop in Cabazon as opposed to Los Angeles, he shrugged. “Yeah, some. We got some Christmas gifts and some deals” at stores such as OshKoshB’Gosh, Puma and Converse.
Ai Tanaka and Jonathan Wang of Glendora were drawn to Cabazon based on its reputation for good deals.
“We’ve never been and wanted to take advantage of deals,” Wang said. They had spent $150 on shoes at UGG boots uk. “It wasn’t really expensive,” Wang reported, “but it wasn’t really cheap, either.”
Alva Cha, 23, of San Gabriel, braved two hours of traffic to partake in what has become a tradition for her.
“We come every year to Cabazon the day after Thanksgiving just to shop,” she said. “I come to take advantage of the deals and do my Christmas shopping.” Her shopping treasures were in bags bearing the brands of Polo Ralph Lauren and UGG boots, where she had spent a combined $300 on a pair of shoes and a towel.
