MANHATTAN — City retailers were seeing green on Black Friday.
Shoppers shelled out approximately $1 billion over Black Friday weekend in stores across the city, according to new numbers from the city’s Economic Development Corporation.
Black Friday spending hit a record $52 billion nationwide, according to a report by the National Retail Federation, which counted a whopping 226 million people shopping at stores and on websites over Black Friday weekend, up from 212 million last year.
The EDC’s estimate for city spending is based on the assumption that shopping in the city represented about 2 percent of total U.S. sales.
Shoppers across the country spent an average of $398.62 over the weekend, according to the National Retail Federation survey, which also found that clothing and accessories were the most popular items on shoppers’ lists, followed by electronics and other computer-related items.
“Stuffed to the brim from their holiday meals and eager to shop, more consumers than ever turned out for retailers’ Black Friday promotions, a promising sign for the economic recovery,” NRF President Matthew Shay said in a statement announcing the results.