HOUSTON — Malls across the country are jam-packed on Thursday night as the holiday shopping season gets underway.
Many stores opened their doors on Thanksgiving Day hoping to lure in Black Friday shoppers a day early.
Memorial City Mall opened at 6 p.m. and plans to stay open through 10 p.m. on Friday to give people a chance to shop their hearts out.
It officially means it’s Christmas time now that Thanksgiving is coming to a close. For many there’s no better way to get into the holiday spirit than by going shopping.
Karen Benschop said, “Normally we cook but our neighbors cooked so we didn’t have to cook and that’s why; she’s visiting so we thought might as well go shopping.”
Shoppers like Darryl Pruitt are eager to snag some of those door-buster deals.
He said, “50 percent off, 30 percent off. You have to hide your stuff. Hide it. Come back for it later.”
Janny Boone has one shopping item on her list.
“Shoes of course. We’re women. Shoes,” Boone said.
The National Retail Federation estimates 34 million people plan to go shopping on Thanksgiving Day.
Many of them say it’s become part of the Thanksgiving tradition and find ways to get out of Thanksgiving dinners.
Elizabeth Santalasci said, “We cheated. We did it last night. We did it this morning. We had the leftovers, had a nap, came out to shop.”
Others say it’s just an excuse to get out of the house.
Santalasci said, “Everybody is having fantastic sales, crowds are nice, everybody is working, everybody is feeling good about working so far.”
However, not all stores are getting into that Black Friday shopping frenzy on Thanksgiving Day.
At Memorial City Mall, stores like Dillard’s and Apple have decided to remain closed until tomorrow to give their employees time to spend with family.