If retailers’ Black Friday success is any indication, cash registers will jingle all the way to Christmas — in what may well be the biggest shopping season in years, analysts said yesterday.
Bargain hunters jammed stores and malls right after their Thanksgiving meals, it seemed.
“It was huge,” said Britt Beemer, chairman of America’s Research Group, which giddily reported that this Black Friday’s sales roared past those of 2011.
Retailers saw a 20 percent jump in traffic over last year — with 60.4 percent of the nation’s 100 million families reportedly represented in malls or stores, up from 50.2 percent in 2011.
“The spending levels are up about 4 percent,” Beemer said.
Shoppers surprisingly snapped up practical gifts. Furniture and mattress retailers found sales rising by as much as 60 percent.
“People were looking at things . . . they could use [at] home . . . essentials like furniture, mattresses, computers and televisions,” Beemer noted.
Target, Walmart, Macy’s and other stores opened on Thanksgiving night — and the risk paid off as droves of people decided to shop earlier than ever before.
Macy’s Herald Square opened at midnight to find more than 11,000 shoppers waiting, up from 9,000 last year. It took 15 minutes just for all of them to stream in.
Holiday cheer for retailers
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Holiday cheer for retailers
