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MISHAWKA - It's a good thing we're heading into a weekend, because shoppers who spent all day and in some cases all night at the stores after Thanksgiving need some rest.
But was the Black Friday rush enough to give retailers the confidence they need this holiday season?
“We've actually been really busy. This is supposed to be one of the number one gifts this year,” said Jessica Waller, who was selling Pop-Up-Pals slippers at a kiosk inside the University Park mall.
Black Friday brought her dozens of new customers, lured to the mall by once-a-year deals at the national chains.
“We've been here for about two weeks and I was actually talking to one of the other associates about how you see a lot of people walking around without bags, and then today everybody has got bags,” said Waller.
A lot of those shoppers also stopped by Ten Thousand Villages, a fair trade store, where the staff tries to avoid making too big of a deal out of the day after Thanksgiving.
“People are coming and buying a few things and getting ideas, and trying to sort of think things through a little, maybe more than some years, said Shirley Hagye, store manager.
She’d like to consider this just the start of a weeks-long shopping season.
Not far away, at Taste of Asia, where you'd think hungry shoppers would want to stop for some chow mein, owner Bill Kellems knows what to expect and it's never good.
“It is slow, very slow,” he said in between orders.
Kellems said each year he sees about a 50% drop in sales on Black Friday, probably because shoppers are going to chain restaurants or drive-thoughs between stores.
“It's unusual, but that's what we get,” he said.
Good thing there are 364 other days to do business.