The first holiday shopping weekend of the season had a strong start that continued through Monday. Mall owners say sales and mall traffic were up.

It may be Cyber Monday and shoppers are finding deep discounts online, Black Friday kicked off the holiday shopping season and brough shoppers back to malls in a time where customer turnout has been on the decline.

Despite reports of the traditional mall format dying, Black Friday weekend showed some of the strongest numbers in sales and traffic we’ve seen since before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mall owner Simon reported a 6.4% increase in mall traffic on Black Friday weekend with a 7.1% gain at its centers, including here in New Jersey.

David Simon, chairman, CEO and president of Simon said in part, "On Black Friday and throughout the weekend, we saw even more evidence of what we already knew: Malls are thriving,"

“This Black Friday was the best Westfield Garden State Plaza has experienced since 2018, marked by high customer turnout, effective promotions, and discounts, all contributing to strong sales growth.” this was the mall’s best Black Friday since 2018 and pre-covid, from both a sales and traffic perspective," said Wesley Rebisz, senior general manager of Westfield Garden State Plaza.

The COVID pandemic saw customer turnout at malls drop. However, since COVID restrictions were rolled back, there has been a gradual return and physical retail has bounced back.

In 2022, retails sales at malls grew over 11%, according to a study by Coresight Research.

While malls are seeing an uptick, the rise of online shopping has been a contributing factor to less foot traffic in area malls.