Big deals draw large crowds during Black Friday

McALLEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — The stores were packed with shoppers who got an early morning start on Black Friday.

Black Friday sales at La Plaza Mall in McAllen have been ongoing all week, but many valley shoppers couldn't pass up the extra discounts and promotions on the big day.

A record 183.4 million people are expected to shop during Black Friday and Cyber Monday, according to an annual survey from the National Retail Federation. The same survey showed that 65% of people would choose to shop exclusively in person on Black Friday.

Black Friday shoppers we spoke to told us they prefer in-person shopping rather than online shopping.

"I like being able to touch the clothing and being able to try things on and see like ‘is this the quality and material that I want to pay for?' That's part of the reason why I like coming to the mall, especially during Black Friday so I can have that in-person experience," Elizabeth Cooper, a shopper at La Plaza Mall said.

Isabel Rodriguez, the Director of Marketing and Business Development at La Plaza Mall said many stores offered extra discounts and promotions during the early morning hours of Black Friday.

“Our stores, even though they’ve expanded the sales they started earlier, there are people that will have an additional percentage off, especially in the early morning hours of Black Friday," Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez said Black Friday deals no longer happen exclusively on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Many places offer discounts throughout the month of November or December or during Black Friday weekend.