Ready, set, shop! Black Friday crowds pack Tanger Outlets

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Shoppers packed into the Daytona Beach Tanger Outlets for Black Friday shopping. 

Holly Curley and her family were among the thousands of people passing through the outlet, Friday. She says it's their way of preparing for the holidays.

"It's the 'get into the Christmas spirit!'" she says, "fellow shoppers, supporting the community, all of the above."

Among the people they are supporting is Chelsea Munizzi, a small business owner who just opened her second "Shellsea" location at the outlets. 

"It's our biggest holiday of the whole year, we're so excited," Munizzi says. "We packed our store out with as much inventory as we could, have a great sale going on, and we're excited for the weekend!"

Munizzi says it's encouraging to see the crowds. "It's been very busy, nonstop. But we've prepped our girls and we're good to go. We're excited to see everybody out and about, today."

Tanger Daytona Beach General Manager Jaime Morris says overall things are looking really well. They say business is up 25% year-to-date versus 2019, which was pre-pandemic. Staff says the outlet's 75 stores are all well-prepared for Black Friday shopping. 

"They've been planning all year for this weekend to make sure they're ready to go, so they're all having really positive days, we've heard traffic up, sales up, everybody's really happy."

Some shoppers, like Martin Mineiros, say they like hitting the stores on Friday, but they've moved on from the days when they'd start lining up at the big box stores right after Thanksgiving dinner. He says that way there's time to enjoy family and get in on the deals. 

"Now everything's more online," he says, "now we just wait till the morning and go out a little earlier."

Watch FOX 35 News for the latest Central Florida stories.