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Target's ( TGT ) exclusive Swift merchandise attracts early Black

Friday

shoppers

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Swift's Eras Tour book and album boost Target's ( TGT ) sales

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Target ( TGT ) to offer Swift's merchandise online starting

Saturday

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People lined up before 5.a.m. at some stores

By Siddharth Cavale, Ananya Mariam Rajesh

Nov 29 (Reuters) - Target's ( TGT ) exclusive, in-store launch

of Taylor Swift's new Eras Tour book on Black Friday paid off

early with lines outside some of the stores.

On X, formerly known as Twitter, most images that shoppers

shared of Target's ( TGT ) shelves for the Eras Tour book were empty as

of 7:30 a.m. ET.

Black Friday has become an important shopping day with

customers willing to wait outside as early as an hour before

stores open at 6 a.m. to grab items before they run out of

stock.

Hoping to buck a long stretch of slowing sales at Target ( TGT ) stores

- with penny-pinched shoppers making purchases at rival

retailers - Target ( TGT ) teamed up with Swift to build on the fan

momentum she experienced following her Eras Tour concerts.

Around 20 people queued up outside at a Target ( TGT ) store in New

Jersey as early as 5 a.m. in freezing temperatures on Black

Friday, with most of them there to snap up Swift's exclusive

merchandise being offered only at the big-box retailer.

Parents of teenage daughters and youngsters in their late

20's were up and about to buy Swift's Eras Tour book priced at

$39.99 at Target ( TGT ), which is also making available a vinyl album

and CD version of "The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology"

for the first time.

Twenty-eight-year old Amy Webb, too, was in line to get her

hands on the Eras Tour book. "I usually don't buy anything

during the holiday season, but wanted to get my hands on this

before it sells out," she said, adding that this was her first

time standing outside a store on Black Friday.

Users on X shared pictures of long queues to grab Swift's

book and album. "Best black Friday ever, been here since 3:30

a.m.," said Jennifer Angerl, a user on X.

"Goods have been secured," X-user Michael Jones-Alarcon said

on the social media platform.

In May, Swift's latest Tortured Poets album was released just

two weeks before the end of Target's ( TGT ) first quarter and was

enough to buoy the retailer's entertainment business. Target ( TGT ),

which has nearly 2,000 stores in the U.S., said then the

entertainment category grew high-single-digits in the first

quarter, benefiting from exclusive offers of Swift's latest

release.

To boost sales during the holiday season, which is shorter

than in previous years with only 26 days between Thanksgiving

and Christmas, the big-box retailer will begin to offer the Eras

Tour book and vinyl and CD version of her Tortured Poets album

on its app and website beginning Saturday.

"That's the only reason I am here, we don't want to go

online and see that it is sold (out)," said a 35-year old

Marriott Hotel employee Adrian Antuna, who was waiting to get

his hands on the Eras Tour book and a couple of the Tortured

Poets Department vinyl albums.