FRACKVILLE - For some shoppers, Black Friday is about more than just finding a good deal.
"It is more about tradition than shopping for us," Jeanette McSparron, Muir, said Friday at the Schuylkill Mall.
McSparron was shopping with her mother, Frances Frantz, Williamstown, Julie Reitenbach, Tower City, and Barbara Reedy, Elizabethtown. They started shopping about 7:30 a.m. and also went to Home Depot and Fairlane Village mall before stopping for lunch.
"We go all over," Frantz said.
Reedy said it wasn't as crowded as it has been the last several years at various stores.
"So much of it started on Thanksgiving this year," she said. "The stores that did lost us (our business). We think Thursday is family time," Reedy said.
Elaine Maneval, mall manager, said most stores were at their busiest from midnight to 3 a.m. and offered special deals at various times throughout the day.
"I think the shopping is just as brisk, but the times have been more spread out," she said. "Stores have gotten wiser, too, and you see them now giving out tickets and wrist bands. Electronics are still the hot item."
Bon-Ton at the mall opened up four hours earlier than usual at 8 p.m. Thursday.
"Customers wanted it, so it's definitely a good thing," John Boran, general manager of the store, said.
Popular items this year he said included outerwear, sweaters, children's toys, housewares and luggage.
Employees were working split shifts, he said, and there were many volunteers for Thursday since it paid time and a half.
"Everyone that is employed by us is working today," Boran said.
The store is once again supporting the Boys and Girls Club of America. Bon-Ton is selling the stuffed bears again and all proceeds go to the national organization.
New this year are the coupons. Boran said, for a $3 donation to the organization, a customer will receive $10 off any purchase of $25 or more.
"That's being received well," Boran said.
The store is running the same promotion for the American Red Cross's disaster relief efforts for the Midwest tornadoes.