Black Friday sales down slightly

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) - The Thanksgiving shopping weekend is almost over but it's only just the beginning.

Black Friday sales fell from last year but that's because Thanksgiving day took a big bite out.

According to ShopperTrak, consumers spent $11.2 billion at stores across the U.S. That's down nearly 2% from last year's total.

Despite the crazy crowds, some people do find deals. “It's good, I like the prices, I didn't find anything I wanted but she did,” said Damon McFarlin.

All of the holiday decorations are up and Santa is out at the mall but people say they're increasingly finding better deals for gifts online.

Natasha Hodge of Springfield has it down to a science. “I call every store to make sure I'm not getting ripped off, I want to know how many are you going to have in the stores vs. how many are you going to have online because if I'm going to the store I want to make sure I'm going to get it and a lot of them won't tell you or they'll have like 15 in the store and it's not worth it,” said Hodge.

According to the National Retail Federation, a record 85% of online retailers will offer special promotions on Cyber Monday.

Even though some people like Eugene Ayers of Springfield still enjoy the in-store shopping,
I'm not big on the internet, it's convenient sometimes but I'm not really big on it, sometimes but not this year.”

However,122 million other Americans are expected to shop on Cyber Monday.  That's only 25 million less than all those who shop in stores over the three day Black Friday weekend.