Black Friday saw shoppers flooding into Ahwatukee Foothills businesses.
At Best Buy near 50th Street and Ray Road Chris Hurst said that 1,300 people were in line when the store opened and that sales per person were up over last year.
“We’re actually doing better than most of the stores in the area,” said Hurst.
Phoenix police Sgt. Tom Craig, who was working security at Best Buy, said the crowd was well behaved.
“Most of the people here have been real polite and happy to spend their money,” said Craig.
But while business was brisk for the first few hours, by 8 a.m. the crowds had thinned out.
“I’m done, this is it,” said Alicia Gomez as she loaded purchases into her car.
“If I buy anything else, it will be small,” she said.
Retailers are hoping that people open their wallets this holiday season to help make up for a dismal year, but not everyone was ready to spend freely.
“I got a couple things,” said Rose Yue, “but this is going to be a much smaller Christmas. We’re all scaling back and going simpler.”
Guillermo Ramirez said he and his family started out early and shopped hard all morning, ending up at IHOP.
“Too much shopping, now I’ve got to eat,” he said while waiting in line for a table.
