Customers flood Hamilton Place Mall on Black Friday

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) — While there has been a definite shift to more online shopping in recent years, folks have continued to come out and take advantage of sales in-person this Black Friday.

Long-time Black Friday shopper, Meridith Brown explained why she continues to shop in-person with her friends: “It’s the experience. 100% the experience. We’ve all been doing this for year’s so we wouldn’t miss it for nothing.”

Shoppers and store owners alike were up bright and early for a start on their holiday shopping.

“We were up at 4:30 a.m. and we were at Walmart. We went to two different Walmarts before we made it here. We’ve been to every store here. We haven’t missed one yet,” shopper Gunner Meeks said.

Palmetto Moon saw a crowd of shoppers waiting outside their store on Friday.

“Our openers came in at 6 a.m. and we opened at 7. There were already people lined up outside of the mall ready to go. It’s just been pure chaos ever since but in a very fun way… like a fun, chaotic way,” Assistant store manager Courtney Young said.

150 people lined up for Palmetto Moon’s gift card giveaway compared to a line of 75 people last year.

Customers were up before sunrise Friday morning in preparation of discounted holiday deals.

“We do this every year. So we’ve been out since about 5:30 this morning. And we’re not looking for anything in particular. We just like to do it,” Brown added.

The National Retail Federation projected that Black Friday spending was expected to chart 4% in sales.

This would land around 966 billion dollars in holiday spending.

Senior Marketing Director from Hamilton Place Mall, Jason Heymann, said national spending is up from 929 billion dollars last year.

“We’re seeing that here this year. I’ve been talking to a lot of our stores and they are reporting even from these first few hours on Black Friday they’re beating last years sales… by a lot,” Heymann said.

The mall has been busy throughout the holiday season and Friday is just one of the popular holiday traditions.

“It’s been wild. I think last year was a big surprise. We had big crowds right at 7 a.m. when we opened the doors. This year I thought, ‘Maybe it’s going to tame down a little bit… not be as big.’ Not kidding… it was three times as big,” Heymann said.

He added that he has seen an increase in in-person shoppers this year following the trend of “impulse buying” post pandemic.

People are wanting to experience brick and mortar stores for that personal retail approach.

Heymann said, “People are excited to spend and get gifts and celebrate that holiday feeling. I think with the economy and what’s happening, people can sometimes feel, ‘Oh it’s not going to be the same. But I think you know people really are [coming out to shop].”

Shoppers flooded Hamilton Place Mall for annual Black Friday deals starting at 7 a.m. and ending at 9 p.m.