Black Friday is here, and shoppers are out in full force at malls and outlets across Massachusetts.
Deep discounts and deals greeted Black Friday shoppers inside South Shore Plaza in Braintree early Friday morning.
“It’s worth it, it’s worth it, it’s still a deal you know, a deal’s a deal, right?” said Zion Williams who’s shopping for deals.
Robert Martin, who flew in from Ireland said, “So cheap, like for what we pay for a shirt in Ireland, we get three here for the price.”
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You heard that right – Robert and Margaret Martin flew in from Ireland, to not only see family, but to be able to get the once a year deals!
Margaret Martin joked, “We’re Irish, you know, we do things mad!”
With online retail giants, Black Friday shopping is not the midnight line out the door it once was, but retailers say there’s still tangible value in shopping in-person instead.
South Shore Plaza General Manger Allen Smith said, “This way here, you come in, you get it, you’re done, you’re not hoping that the post office or FedEx is going to be able to deliver it, and you get to touch and see it, right?”
And for some shoppers we found it was more about the tradition and time spent together than it is about saving a few bucks.
Long-time Black Friday shopper Claudia Kearse said, “To be honest, it’s spending time with my sisters, so it’s a tradition for us, we do this every single year, I look forward to it, I make my Black Friday list and we come out, we make memories, it’s what I look forward to every year.”
Her sister Emari Howe of Boston said, “We go to almost every store, we’re here for hours at a time, we just look forward to it because we’ve just been doing it for years.”
Many say despite the occasionally long lines, they’ll keep coming back year after year.
Sydney Lemaire of Raynham said, “I would, it’s still fun to be here and just look at all the things they have to offer because sometimes they do have deals that they won’t offer on Cyber Monday so I would come back.”
And if you haven’t braved the stores yet, but plan to come out to Braintree -- South Shore Plaza is open until 9 p.m. Friday night, and they expect peak crowds around 1 p.m.
