Holiday shopping returned to a lower-key normal this Black Friday

For many Minnesotans, Black Friday felt a lot like it did before the pandemic.

There were hardly any masks, no capacity rules, no distance signs and no glass between kids and Santa Claus.

But in a lot of ways, Black Friday was also no longer the frenzied marathon it was in the decade before the pandemic. With so many sales begun weeks ago, the early-morning doorbusters and long lines of shoppers were mostly gone. Inflation was top of mind, and many buyers talked about sticking to budgets.

“I definitely want a good deal,” said Julie Nessly of Chanhassen as she headed into the Scheels store at the Eden Prairie Center shortly before 7 a.m. “If it’s not a good deal, I won’t buy it.”

Nessly and her daughter-in-law arrived at the Scheels store as it opened to look for ideas for their outdoorsy husbands and to get the good deals before they were gone.

But at Southdale Center in Edina, the state’s oldest shopping mall, there were only 20 cars in the parking lot of Macy’s when the mall’s general manager Judy Tullius arrived shortly before its 6 a.m. opening.

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