I went Black Friday shopping at a Walmart and Target in Hawaii and was shocked by how few deals and people there were

• A writer based in Honolulu, Hawaii, visited a Target and Walmart on Black Friday morning.
• She found it to be a very different experience than when she used to shop on this day years ago.

Over Thanksgiving break my freshman year, I convinced a group of new college friends to wake up at 3:30 a.m., pile into a minivan, and head to the King of Prussia mall. They thought I was crazy, but I know they're grateful for the memory.

That may have been the last time I did the Black Friday thing. Over time, lacking access to a car, traveling over the holidays, and shifting spending priorities made this frantic shopping day less appealing. But this year I moved to Honolulu, Hawaii, and I thought it might be nice to look for deals in my new city.

Here's what it was like.

I set off for Target a little after 6:30 a.m. on my bike. (I still don't have a car.)

Morgan Pōmaikaʻi Lee

Target opened at 7 a.m., only one hour earlier than normal. They also had closed the main pedestrian entrance, and signs informed us we had to enter through the parking garage.

Morgan Pōmaikaʻi Lee

Inside the mall parking lot, the situation was chill enough that one security guard just seemed to be scrolling on his phone.

Morgan Pōmaikaʻi Lee

I got to the second floor entrance a couple minutes after 7 a.m. Groups of people were chatting as they rolled in, but there was little of the chaotic energy that I remembered as a kid trying to get the special edition Christmas ornaments at JCPenney.

Morgan Pōmaikaʻi Lee

The first thing I noticed was a 'Mele Kalikimaka' greeting when I walked in. I'll admit I'm a huge sucker for locally-targeted advertising from national chains.

Morgan Pōmaikaʻi Lee

Immediately, I got distracted by something I previously had no intention of buying — just as Target planned.

Morgan Pōmaikaʻi Lee

I headed to the kitchen aisle. No Black Friday deals.

Morgan Pōmaikaʻi Lee

I chatted with some store employees in a quiet part of the store. They speculated that shopper volume was low because Ala Moana mall itself wasn't opening until 8 a.m. But they also suggested I'd find more people in the toys and electronics section.

Morgan Pōmaikaʻi Lee

They were right … sort of. (One shopper seemed to be capturing his experience on his GoPro.)

Morgan Pōmaikaʻi Lee

I was shocked to see this Play-Doh shelf cleared out just 11 minutes after the store opened.

Morgan Pōmaikaʻi Lee

The game aisle was a bit more crowded than other aisles.

Morgan Pōmaikaʻi Lee

Seeing that board games were 50% off, I texted my coworker, a board game aficionado, to see what he recommended. None of his three recommendations were marked off, but the ones that were seemed to be selling fast.

Morgan Pōmaikaʻi Lee

One thing I noticed right away: The fullest carts were the Target employees' who were collecting people's in-store pick-up orders.

Morgan Pōmaikaʻi Lee

I wandered over to the electronics section, where parts of it were cordoned off. There were massive TVs around the store, but when I spoke to a clerk, she told me few customers actually expressed interest in purchasing one.

Morgan Pōmaikaʻi Lee

Meanwhile, Target had set up a little electronics market in the produce section.

Morgan Pōmaikaʻi Lee

The second floor overall seemed empty, to the point where I saw store employees just catching up with each other.

Morgan Pōmaikaʻi Lee

The areas where I wanted to find Black Friday deals the most were the food aisles. Because they're almost all imported, groceries are extremely expensive in Hawaii. No sales — nor customers really — were to be found.

Morgan Pōmaikaʻi Lee

Around 7:45 a.m., I headed to Walmart two blocks away.

Morgan Pōmaikaʻi Lee

I walked in and it was immediately clear that this was not Walmart 10 years ago.

Morgan Pōmaikaʻi Lee

They had no signs advertising special Black Friday hours, but when I had looked it up online, it said the store opened at 5 a.m. this morning.

Morgan Pōmaikaʻi Lee

When I asked about some of the deals, one store employee told me I should check the store flyer. (In Hawaii, everyone reads store ads to get deals.) But when I asked for a store flyer, another store employee told me they were out.

Morgan Pōmaikaʻi Lee

Walmart was as quiet as I've ever seen it during the past year. It's normally far busier on the Saturdays when I go grocery shopping.

Morgan Pōmaikaʻi Lee

Unlike Target, I didn't really see anything flagging any deals for Black Friday, so I nixed this as a place to grab stuff off my list. One clerk I talked to seemed to suggest that the deals were already over and/or sold out.

Morgan Pōmaikaʻi Lee

The one thing still happening: sales on laptops and giant TVs.

Morgan Pōmaikaʻi Lee

One thing that did seem to be unusual was the amount of security present. Maybe there's normally this many walking around but I don't notice because of the number of shoppers present. Between folks at the door and those walking around, I saw at least half a dozen.

Morgan Pōmaikaʻi Lee

No food sales either!

Morgan Pōmaikaʻi Lee

Over the intercom, Target had played a message reminding people to wear masks in the store. Hearing that announcement reminded me that stores like Walmart and Target don't serve as the social hubs that they did just a decade ago. Amazon Prime and the pandemic have fundamentally changed how we shop.

Morgan Pōmaikaʻi Lee

I don't miss reading headlines of people trampling others to death over a TV, but I'm a bit nostalgic for the fact that an activity that used to bring people together (at least physically) now seems to have become a far more solo venture.

Morgan Pōmaikaʻi Lee

As Walmart and Target continue to compete with Amazon — six months ago, the online retailer purchased land for a distribution center in Honolulu — it'll be interesting to see if Black Friday continues to seem more like any other day during the holiday season.

Morgan Pōmaikaʻi Lee