For many Minnesotans, Black Friday felt a lot like it did before the pandemic.
There were almost no masks, no capacity rules, no distance signs or glass between the children and Santa Claus.
But in many ways, Black Friday was no longer the frantic marathon it was in the decade before the pandemic. With so many sales starting weeks ago, most of the morning doors and long lines of shoppers were gone. Inflation was the main thing and many buyers talked about sticking to budgets.
“I definitely want a good deal,” said Julie Nessly of Chanhassen as she headed to the Scheels store in the Eden Prairie Center shortly before 7 a.m. “If it’s not a good deal, I’m not going to buy it.”
Nessly and her daughter-in-law came to the Scheels store when it opened to look for ideas for their outdoor husbands and to get the good deals before they left.
But at Edina’s Southdale Center, the state’s oldest mall, there were only 20 cars in the Macy’s parking lot when the mall’s general manager, Judy Tullius, arrived shortly before it opened at 6 in the morning
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