Taylor Swift draws Black Friday shoppers back into stores in San Diego

It's one of the most important and biggest days for retailers. Black Friday has arrived and this year, stores are hoping to get people in stores rather than buying online.

The National Retail Federation says more than 180 million people will do both between Black Friday and cyber-Monday. While most people will do most of their Black Friday shopping online, the retail federation predicts about 65% of shoppers still plan to shop in stores this year and stores are hoping to take advantage by offering better deals at their stores rather than online.

“One of the things about being in the mall versus online is that on Black Friday retailers are going to have special deals in store that are not available online. They want consumers to come in and really buy,” says San Diego State Marketing Professor Miro Copic.

One of those exclusive deals features arguably this year's biggest star: Taylor Swift.

The billionaire singer-songwriter’s “Eras Tour Book” hit shelves on Black Friday, revealing previously unknown tidbits about the record-breaking concert run that’s spanned five continents over 21 months, NBC News reports.

The 256-page hardcover was available exclusively at Target stores for $39.99 on Friday and will be available online on Saturday.

The in-store drop drew Swifties out across the country to the big box retailer before doors opened on Black Friday, including here San Diego.

"I actually got to the parking lot at 3:30 a.m.," Victoria Owings said. "We have been doing what Swifties do – and chatting and showing love to each other."

Most J.C. Penney stores opened at 5 a.m., and most Macy's, Best Buy, Target, Dick's Sporting Goods and The Home Depot at 6 a.m.

“Consumers are going to be spending about a $1,000 each on gifts, food, decorations, things like that," Copic said. "And so, for every dollar that they start spending, they're not going to spend it somewhere else. So, they want people to come in.”

Even still, most shoppers are lurking online. Last year, Adobe Analytics says US consumers spent $9.8 billion online on Black Friday.

"Honestly, I feel like it's died down a lot. There's not as much craze," said Serenity Sanchez, a shopper at UTC mall in La Jolla. "I think you know how people used to get into, like, big fights and everything, but I don't know, I feel like it's still fun when you go with the right people."

According to an annual survey released Nov. 14 by the National Retail Federation conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics, found that clothing or accessories continued to top the list of what people plan to buy during Christmas shopping at 54%, followed by gift cards (44%), toys (36%), books, video games and other media (31%) and food/candy (30%).

Legos and Hot Wheels were the top two toys shoppers told pollsters they planned to buy for boys for the third consecutive year. Cars were again third, followed by video games and the PlayStation video game system. Remote controlled cars were sixth, a year after tying Spider-Man-related items for eighth.

Video game consoles were seventh, Nerf products dropped one spot to eighth. Spider-Man-related items were ninth and trucks 10th.

The top two on the list for girls were the same for the third consecutive year -- Barbie dolls and any doll. Legos were third for the second consecutive year after finishing fourth in 2022. Makeup and beauty products were fourth. Disney items were fifth and baby dolls sixth.

The Barbie Dreamhouse was seventh, a year after tying for ninth. Clothes were eighth, electronics ninth and Squishmallows plush toys were 10th, after finishing sixth in 2022 and eighth in 2023.

The survey of 8,135 adult consumers was conducted from Nov. 1-7 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.1 percentage points.

Black Friday is also the 33rd annual "Buy Nothing Day," conceived by Adbusters and billed by supporters as "a 24 hour detox from consumerism and an opportunity for you to tune into the impact we have on the environment through shopping."