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Calm not chaotic: Black Friday 2020 is subdued

When the doors opened at Best Buy at St. Johns Town Center, the line that reached next door decreased by half. Then it was gone.

Black Friday doesn't really feel like Black Friday in 2020.

When the doors opened at 5 a.m. at Best Buy at St. Johns Town Center, the line that reached next door to PGA Tour Superstore decreased by half. Then it was gone.

Best Buy is only letting 50 customers inside at a time and has been encouraging curbside pickup and delivery options as well as offering sales all week.

More people are expected to shop online this year. The consulting company Deloitte's pre-Thanksgiving pulse survey finds 74% of people plan to shop online to avoid crowds. That's up 12% from last year. It also finds 57% of people are avoiding in-store shopping, a 15% increase from last year.

Shoppers are expected to spend around $400 each this year. Small business owners hope some of it is spent with them. 

Tenley Dietrich, who owns a store by the same name in Avondale, will only have six customers in her shop at once. She's making an effort to make you want to hang out outside her store first.

"We're gonna have a little plant pop-up outside," Dietrich said. "We're gonna have Vagabond Coffee doing complimentary drinks, hot coffee, iced coffee, beer, wine. So you can still get to Best Buy at 5 a.m. and then come get a coffee here and then shop."

She hopes shoppers shop small after going to superstores.

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