Black Friday online sales reportedly strong

Consumers flocked to retailers and online sales the day after Thanksgiving. Black Friday online shoppers in the United States had a “record spend of $9.8 billion,” Adobe Digital Insights lead analyst Vivek Pandya, said in a statement. Salesforce also reported that Black Friday online sales were higher than it expected. Salesforce uses different metrics than Adobe. The National Retail Federation expected a sales increase of three to four percent this Christmas season.

Did anything crazy happen during the rush of shoppers? American Dream Mall, the second-largest mall in the United States, was temporarily evacuated minutes after it opened at 7 a.m. on Friday morning because of a bomb threat. New Jersey police’s bomb squad and K-9 units searched the mall but found nothing, allowing the mall to reopen at 9:15 a.m. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said officials would remain vigilant for future threats this holiday season.

Dig deeper: Read Adam M. Carrington’s column in WORLD Opinions on being thankful this holiday season.