Robin Gates wanted to give her grandkids an authentic experience for their first time shopping on Black Friday.
She and her husband, Carlton, have visited Chicago’s Magnificent Mile for years on the day that traditionally marks the start of the Christmas shopping season.
This year, the couple’s daughter, Olivia Williams, and her two children drove from Georgia to the Gateses’ home in Wisconsin, then hopped on a train from Milwaukee to Chicago to be among the first inside Water Tower Place, 835 N. Michigan Ave., Friday morning. Their first stop was the Lego store.
Gates said her husband grew up in Chicago and although he wasn’t shopping with his grandkids Friday, he hoped they could have the same magical time he remembers having as a youngster.
“My husband loves shopping in Chicago because this is where he lived and grew up,” Gates said. “As a little boy, he says he always walked up and down these streets, so this is his gift to them.”
So, she was a little surprised to see only a few dozen people lined up outside the entrances to Water Tower Place at 9 a.m.
Stanley Ellis-Roberts, visiting with a friend from Minnesota, felt like the shopping was easy-going as he rummaged through some shirts at Marshalls a few blocks away.
Hailing from an area near the Mall of America, the largest shopping center in the country, Ellis-Roberts said he’s used to a more hectic shopping experience.
In the afternoon, protesters organized by the U.S. Palestinian Community Network of Chicago briefly blocked some store entrances along the Mag Mile and closed the street to traffic for about an hour.
Crowds on the day after Thanksgiving have been shrinking in recent years as some retailers offer discounts throughout the month and with many shoppers turning to online shopping.
But Black Friday has been and is expected to be the busiest shopping day in the U.S., according to ShopperTrak. A record 130.7 million people were expected to shop on Black Friday in stores and online.
Crowds along the Magnificent Mile picked up a bit by Friday afternoon. Despite a line wrapping around the Lego store, Jose Doh, 20, said he only waited about seven minutes to get inside.
Doh collects Lego sets and picked up a couple of new ones Friday.
“I never usually come on Black Friday, but I did have some spare cash, so you know, might as well come get some Brickheadz,” he said, pointing to his new sets — a llama and a Sonic Legos Brickheadz.
A Deloitte survey of Chicago shoppers found average holiday spending is expected to decrease this year by about 6%. Chicagoans also said they plan to spend about 65% of their holiday budgets on online shopping, the survey found.
The survey did, however, predict that in-store purchases on Black Friday this year would return to around the level it was in 2019, at about 37% of shoppers preferring to shop in person.
The top reason for shopping in person was the ability to interact with the product, the survey said.
That’s exactly why Edwin Romero drove to Chicago from Michigan. He tends to go out for Black Friday shopping each year rather than stay at home and shop online.
“I just like the city, so I decided to come here,” Romero said after exiting the Zara store on Michigan Avenue. “I just like to get a feel of the clothes better, I can see the material.”
Alongside the street, Craig Howard and Mose Townsend posed for photos in front of a phone they propped up on a tripod.
Townsend, a fashion stylist living in Roseland, bought a black turtleneck. Howard, a traveling chef visiting from Cleveland, bought a sweater, a handbag and other clothes.
“He just loves sweaters,” Townsend said of his friend Howard, who was pleased with his 40% off deal at Zara. “He’s the shopper.”
