Phoenix shopping centers say Black Friday is ‘still relevant’

Article originally posted on AZ Central on November 25, 2025

Shoppers may not be camping out and wrestling their peers for the last discounted TV, but some Valley shopping center operators said Black Friday, and the weekend after Thanksgiving, are still their highest-volume days of the year.

“Black Friday is still relevant, there’s very heavy foot traffic,” Christina Calhoun, marketing director for Scottsdale Quarter, said. “That Saturday, too, is still very heavy and almost comparable, but Black Friday is still our biggest day of the year.”

Unlike a couple decades ago, when one-day only deals and Black Friday doorbusters inspired shoppers to vie for the first place in line, now sales start as soon as two weeks ahead of Thanksgiving. Customers can take their time shopping, or go over multiple days, and still take advantage of the sales.

“Now people can really just enjoy a full week of shopping,” Calhoun said. “We already see the impact from the early Black Friday deals. We used to have this surge, but now it’s a lot more relaxed, people can enjoy shopping a little more.”

At Desert Ridge Marketplace in north Phoenix, foot traffic has already increased, with a noticeable uptick more than a week before Black Friday, marketing director Leann Meagher said.

“We just expect that entire weekend to be really high volume,” Meagher said. “It’s pretty much full-on shopping mode, once you hit November, it’s on.”

According to the annual holiday shopping report done by real estate firm JLL, per-person spending is expected to decrease this year nationwide by about 10%, but that cut is expected to come from cuts to food and entertainment budgets, not gifting. Budgets are expected to scale back to about $1,133 per person this year, down from $1,261, but that total includes gifts, other goods like food and decorations, and experiences.

While the holiday decorations in stores began rolling out even before Halloween, only 27.7% of shoppers planned to begin buying for the holidays before October, down from 41.1% last year according to JLL research. The pullback shows shoppers are timing purchases, waiting for bigger sales.

On average, people expect to spend about $580 on gifts this year, and people who linger in retail environments, like the mall, for more than 90 minutes, are expected to spend nearly double what people who keep their retail visits under 30 minutes, according to the research.

The shopping center operators work hard to make sure there is an endless stream of events, photo opportunities and activities for holiday shoppers looking to buy gifts and enjoy the season.

“We want people to know this is the place to come,” Meagher said.