Plenty of people were getting their holiday shopping done as dawn broke on Black Friday in Massachusetts.
Eloise Lee and her mom Jennifer showed up at Braintree’s South Shore Plaza mall as it opened at 6 a.m.
“A lot of people online shop now and I feel like Black Friday is just a fun thing to do. It’s an exciting time to shop and wake up early,” Eloise said.
Her mother said she was shopping for Eloise and her sister, and, when asked if she was going to hide her Black Friday purchases, replied, “I’m not actually good at secrets!”
Plenty of others braved the morning crowds, which Eloise said she didn’t mind, for the same reason: tradition.
“We got here at 4:30 this morning,” Anthony Petrucci said. “It’s one of the traditions. It used to be 12 o’clock but now, since everything opens at 6, it’s 4:30, you know.”
Amy Batth remembers the days of camping outside stores and midnight lines
“I was 8 years old and I was with my parents and I remember, I vividly remember this. I’m, like, rushing through every single store,” she said.
Batth described Black Friday shopping today as “drastically different.”
Still, South Shore Plaza was bracing for big crowds Friday.
“We’re expecting more traffic. We’re trending up so far this year in our traffic and we expect that to continue into the holiday season,” said Allan Smith, the mall’s general manager.
Across the country, a record 186.9 million people are planning to shop from Black Friday through Cyber Monday, according to the National Retail Foundation, up 3 million from last year.
The organization says clothes and accessories tend to top the list of gift shopping, followed by gift cards and toys.
