Black Friday in-store shopping is making a comeback this year and even Swifties are fueling the trend.

The big picture: Five years after COVID changed the shopping holiday, retailers are returning with in-store deals to entice customers.

• "We've actually been calling 2024 the 'Year of the store,' and we've seen such strong demand for physical retail space this year," Tom McGee, president and CEO of ICSC, told Axios.

By the numbers: 63% of holiday shoppers are expected to shop both online and in-store compared to 22% of consumers who are shopping exclusively online, a RetailMeNot survey of 1,200 adults found.

• Also this year: A record 183.4 million shoppers are expected to shop between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday with Black Friday projected to be the busiest day, according to the National Retail Federation holiday survey. That's an increase from last year's record of 182 million.

Zoom in: Target is appealing to Swifties by releasing exclusive Taylor Swift merchandise in its stores.

• Target stores opened early this morning to sell the official "Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour Book" and "The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology" with bonus songs on vinyl and CD, while supplies last.
• The items will be available Saturday on the Target app and on Target.com.

"They're going to come in and they're going to buy," Jeff Galak, marketing professor at Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business, told Axios about Target's Taylor Swift products. "That is more sales that Target can expect as compared to if they only offered that online or if they offered it early online."

State of play: Releasing exclusive items in stores first is a reversal from recent years when popular items were pushed online first to reduce crowds in the early days of the pandemic.

• In-store-only doorbusters, a key reason shoppers camped out ahead of sales, have also been slow to return.
• There still will be deals this year, but most, with a few exceptions, have been online for days and weeks. JCPenney and Kohl's are dangling early-morning in-store coupon giveaways to entice shoppers to head to stores.

What's next: "Shipping logistics are going to be critical this year," with a narrower shipping window" than in past years, Stephanie Carls, RetailMeNot retail insights expert, told Axios.

Share with a shopper

Years before online shopping was the norm, Black Friday consisted of waking up early, standing in long lines and battling it out for the hot gifts of the year. 

Here's a glimpse of what that looked like:

Have a Black Friday memory you'd like to share? Reply to this email. 

We asked the techiest people we know (our Axios AI+ team) to tell us what devices are worth buying this year. Here's what they said:

Meta Ray-Ban Smart Glasses ($299): We've been big fans of these since the first version came out just for taking first-person photos and videos of kids and pets. The latest go-around improves the camera and speakers while adding a built-in AI assistant.

Oura Ring 4 ($349): This slim band offers a way to track your sleep without having to take a watch to bed, with some other health and fitness features as well.

Apple AirPods ($129): The basic set will suit many people just fine, especially with the latest upgrades, though there is now a pair with active noise cancellation for $179. That said, the $249 AirPods Pro has the added advantage of being able to act as both a hearing test and hearing aids for those who need them (and more of us need them than know it).

Infinity Game Board ($499): This tabletop game console allows for solo and family play of board, card and table games on a large screen with an intuitive multitouch interface. And this unit is more compact than the original table version we reviewed back in 2021.

PlugBug ($69.99): This family of power chargers can juice up multiple devices simultaneously and has the added benefit of built-in support for Apple's "Find My" network so you can easily locate the PlugBug (or track whatever bag it is in). The pricier travel versions include adapters for outlets around the world.

Anker MagGo ($74.99): Power banks are another must-have in the travel bag (carry-on only, of course). Anker's line of MagGo batteries can either wirelessly connect to an iPhone or to a broad range of devices via USB-C.

Belkin BoostCharge Plus ($69.99): If wireless charging isn't a priority, this PowerBank has built-in cords for both lightning and USB-C and can charge two devices at once.

New U.S. business applications hit a high-water mark in 2023, with notable hot spots in the Southeast and Mountain West.

Why it matters: Small businesses — which will get plenty of visitors this Small Business Saturday — are a cornerstone of the U.S. economy, employing tens of millions of Americans.

Driving the news: Americans filed nearly 5.5 million new business applications in 2023, per the U.S. Census Bureau, or about 16.3 for every 1,000 residents.

• That's up from about 5.1 million in 2022 and 3.5 million in 2018, before the COVID-19 pandemic.
• About 1.8 million of 2023's new businesses are highly likely to hire workers, per the bureau, compared to around 1.3 million in 2018.

Zoom in: Wyoming (100.1), Delaware (53.4) and Florida (29.4) had the highest rates of new business applications per 1,000 residents in 2023.

• The first two are perennial new business favorites for legal and tax reasons.

Stunning stat: Nearly 85% of consumers say they'll probably shop at a small business this holiday season, a new American Express survey finds, up 11 points over the last decade.

Reality check: Filling out the paperwork for a new business is just one step, but it's at least a sign of confidence that small business success is possible.