In recent years, the holiday lingers around longer as it has expanded beyond just one day. For some, the expansion of the nationally recognized shopping day is beneficial, for others: the opposite.

While the Chautauqua Mall opened its doors earlier at 8 a.m., other stores within the complex opened even earlier, and some on Thursday. Old Navy, the clothing retailer, opened at 3 p.m. Thursday and never closed its doors through Black Friday. Mall hours were expanded to accommodate the holiday shopping opening an hour earlier at 8 a.m. and staying open an hour later until 10 p.m. Those hours will remain the same today. It will return to regular hours by next week.

With early shopping Thursday, Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday, the holiday shopping doesn’t simply end on Friday. The National Retail Federation recognizes the five day period from Thanksgiving to the following Monday as a shopping event.

“Thanksgiving is great and it does drive a lot of people into the mall in the evening (Thursday),” said Julie Bihler, general manager of the Chautauqua Mall. “We were open 6 p.m. to midnight. It kind of spreads out their time.”

As for Black Friday specifically, Bihler said the shopping-focused day is very beneficial to retail stores and the mall.

But noted that the day is about more than just shopping and money. The mall hosted a meet Santa event during the day as well.

“It’s all about holiday memories,” she told The Post-Journal.

Bihler believed the pre-Black Friday openings and sales help reduce the size of lines and overall stress. Over the course of her 18-year career at the mall, she said there have been a few heated exchanges among customers in previous years. She recalled one that took place outside Gamestop, the video game retailer. But Bihler maintained that the extended Black Friday hours help to reduce those negative interactions.

“It’s been better because the lines aren’t so difficult to manage,” Bihler said.

With the staggered openings, Bihler said people are less likely to be waiting in lines for extended periods of time and inside from the cold weather. She said the overall impact of the expanded hours and openings has been positive.

“It’s a busy time,” said Ellen Reynolds from Frewsburg who was shopping in the mall on Friday.

Reynolds said she doesn’t typically go out shopping because of her age, but does enjoy the retail holiday.

Some customers walking around the mall Friday thought the extension of Black Friday hours left less items on the shelves for individuals looking to shop on the actual day. Donna Fry of Warren traveled down to the Chautauqua Mall and has been participating in Black Friday for many years, but noted that the additional shopping days impact the experience.

“I’m just tired,” Fry said. “(Stores) are out of a lot stuff, if you wait until Black Friday, since it starts on Thursday. Everything is picked over and I don’t shop on Thanksgiving, that’s family day.”

Others conducting their holiday shopping thought the stores and the mall looked less busy when compared to last year. Bihler said it appeared about the same when comparing both years. According to the NRF, national retail sales are expected to increase between 4.3 and 4.8 percent more than 2017 in the months of November and December. Sales increased by 5.3 percent from the 2016 to 2017 holiday seasons.

However, the NRF acknowledges that early discounting has cut into Black Friday sales. The website notes that Black Friday will likely remain as the official kick-off to holiday shopping.

According to History.com, many people attribute the origin of Black Friday to sales finally going from “in the red” (negative sales) to going “in the black” (positive sales) after a long year of deficits and no profits. On Friday Sept. 24, 1869, the bankers Jim Fisk and Jay Gould crashed the stock market and birthed the first reference to a “Black Friday.”

The current Black Friday was more accurately coined by disgruntled police officers working overtime in the 1950s in Philadelphia, Pa. on the day after Thanksgiving when college football teams Navy and Army faced off, the site said. In the 1980s, retail stores began using the term for the shopping holiday.

On Friday, several customers took notice of the missing Bon-Ton store that was recently shuttered and the ongoing liquidation sale within Sears. Others looked for stores that have been gone for several years like Hallmark. As for the recent closings, Bihler released an official statement at the time of the recent announcement.

“We remain focused on delivering the best experience for our guests at Chautauqua Mall. Regarding the Sears closing, retailers come and go and that has always been the case in the retail industry. Our leasing team is exploring opportunities for new tenants to replace the former Bon-Ton store, as well as the Sears location,” she said at the time.

Bihler said it was “too early to tell” if the recent closings had any impact on Black Friday sales.

Bihler referred back to her official statement when asked about Sears, but noted that Shults is currently occupying the space the Bon-Ton used to be located. Shults will remain there through January. Matthew Kahm, executive vice president and chief operating officer at Shults, said more than 200 used cars have been moved from the Jamestown location to the mall for the holiday season.

“We’re just excited to see so many people coming through the mall,” Kahm said.

Kahm said car dealerships do observe an increase in sales during Black Friday despite it being a retail-heavy event.

While the mall is primarily known for its commercial franchises and corporate stores, it does feature local businesses too. Bihler said while the mall isn’t associated with Small Business Saturday, it does support small and local businesses throughout the area and even more so on days like today. There are over a dozen local shops located within the mall.

“I think it’s great,” Bihler said of the small business focused initiative. “We should all support our local businesses. We need our nationals too. They’re great for the economy as well, but we all should support (small businesses).”

According to the new Small Business Economic Impact Study from American Express, who created the shopping holiday in 2010, an average two-thirds of every dollar spent at a small business stays in the local community. Now in its ninth year, 97 percent of consumers who plan to shop small on Saturday have said Small Business Saturday has a positive impact on their community, according to the 2018 Small Business Saturday Consumer Insights Survey.

“We wouldn’t have a community worth living in without small businesses,” said Jamestown Mayor Sam Teresi at an event hosted at Crown Street Roasting Company to promote Small Business Saturday.

Dennis Phillips contributed to this story.