Smaller crowds make for swift Black Friday shopping on Mag Mile

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, Gates’ daughter, Olivia Williams, and her two kids drove from Georgia to Gates’ 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. The Lego store was their first stop.

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 shopping on Black Friday as a young kid.

“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 not as many shoppers out this year.

Only a few dozen people lined up outside the various entrances to Water Tower Place when it opened 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.

The bustling shopping crowds on the day after Thanksgiving have been dwindling in recent years , especially after the pandemic, as some retailers offer discounts throughout the month and with many shoppers turning to the comfort of their own homes for online shopping.

But Black Friday has been and is again expected to be the busiest shopping day in the U.S., according to ShopperTrak.

A Deloitte survey of Chicago shoppers found that the average holiday spending is expected to decrease this year by about 6%, while online shopping is on the rise.

Chicagoans reported planning on spending about 65% of their holiday budgets on online shopping, the survey found.

“This shift comes as local shoppers expect to visit fewer stores this year as a way to economize,” the Deloitte survey said.