MURRAY, Utah — Many Utahns refer to Black Friday as a tradition, whether they’re working behind cash registers or braving the crowds as customers.
Anthony Mirable, an employee at Doused, a local shoe store inside Fashion Place Mall, said that he’s worked 10 Black Fridays in a row. He believes the days of shoppers staying out all night are over.
“People don’t wake up early anymore like that or stay overnight. They want to go get breakfast,” said Mirable.
Jessica Hallis, a shopper who was waiting in line outside of the mall’s PacSun location, said that Black Friday shopping is a tradition in her family.
“We’ve done Black Friday shopping for 20 years,” said Hallis. “It’s a tradition. We used to get up at two in the morning.”
One of the longest lines formed outside of the Lego store. According to employee Maddie Johnson, the store opened at 9 a.m. People waited in it to enter the store.
“Our line was all the way outside the outside door down our hallway,” said Johnson. “It was forever long.”
Black Friday spending: “Early bird gets the worm”
Michael Reese, another shopper, said that he started his day at Nordstrom. He provided some advice for newbies.
“Honestly, the early bird gets the worm,” said Reese. “if you wake up early you’ll have a good day.”
Additionally, he said that he and his family would be shopping well into the night.
According to
Price Waterhouse Coppers, 22% of shoppers planned to chase Black Friday deals in-store. That is a 3% increase compared to last year.
They said they made their decision so they could check the quality of products before buying. However, they also do most of the bulk of their shopping online. Judianne Peterson was one of them.
“We did some online shopping this morning but we’re here because we’re looking for a TV and an iPad and we want to see … the quality,” she said.
Other shoppers said that they were in the store to pick up an order, but they decided to browse while they were there.
Adobe Analytics predicted that shoppers would spend over $40.6 Billion between Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
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