Mall Foot Traffic Jumps on ?Black Friday?

On the day after Thanksgiving, 47,938 people entered Fayetteville’s Northwest Arkansas Mall, an increase of 19 percent over last year’s “Black Friday” foot traffic, said Andrea Taylor, the mall’s marketing manager.r

For the entire three-day weekend, foot traffic at the mall was up 8 percent to 94,792.r

“At 11 o’clock [on Friday morning], we had approximately 1,555 more people in the mall this year as opposed to last year,” Taylor said. “The average shopping time was 63.5 minutes, up from 46.8. To me, that translates to more people shopping earlier for a longer period of time. I think shopper confidence is back.”r

The Friday after Thanksgiving is traditionally the fourth biggest shopping day of the year and a harbinger of the critical Christmas retail season. The mall in Fayetteville is Northwest Arkansas’ largest shopping area.r