Fewer Customers Turn Out For Black Friday Shopping In The Metro

If you were out shopping Friday, you may have noticed things were a bit different than Black Friday's past. You probably found a place to park and weren't stuck in line at the register for what seemed like hours. What is typically billed as the biggest shopping day of the year isn't what it used to be.

Usually, Black Friday shoppers stood in line for hours, waiting to rush the doors when stores finally opened in the early morning hours. It was what shopper Kim Davis lived for.

“We would get up and go wait in the cold and pound the stores and power shop, and it's just awesome,” she said.

But not this year. Our News 9 this Morning live shots from Penn Square showed a nearly empty mall from 4 a.m. until 7 a.m. All the crowds and craziness were long over.

Most stores opened at 6 p.m. Thanksgiving night with their big door buster deals. It was the first time ever that Quail Springs Mall opened so early.

“It was very busy at 6 o'clock, we had lines at the department stores to open,” said Quail Springs Mall Marketing Manager Jeannette Smith.

But Friday morning at 6 a.m. when the mall re-opened, not so much.

“The early bird shoppers came at 6 p.m. instead of 6 a.m.,” said Smith.

And even though Smith said the shoppers still came, just at a different time, Kim said it was just not the same.

“They've taken the fun out if it by changing it to Thursday, it's not Black Friday, it's Black Thursday.”

Retailers said people are also doing more of their shopping online instead of at the stores.