Shoppers streamed to area stores yesterday on the unofficial start of the Christmas shopping season. Retailers hope that those shoppers were buyers and that Black Fridays numbers presage more green in their future. Here's a tally of how the day added up for consumers and store operators.
9: Number of minutes it took to get a parking space at 9:43 a.m. at King of Prussia mall.
1,000: Number of goodie bags given out to the first shoppers at Willow Grove Park mall, starting at 6 a.m.
400: Number of bananas given away at the customer-service desk at Willow Grove Park mall.
500: Number of granola bars given away at the customer-service desk at Willow Grove Park mall.
10: Number of tour buses that dropped off shoppers at Franklin Mills Mall in Northeast Philadelphia.
4: Families in line for a picture with Santa at King of Prussia mall at 11:10 a.m.
1,135: Number of cups of hot beverages made at the Tassimo coffee kiosk outside the King of Prussia mall between 6 a.m. and 3 p.m.
435: Number of mall staff working at Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trusts eight Philadelphia-area shopping malls yesterday.
500,000: Number of LED candles sold this season by Philadelphias Brite Star Manufacturing Co.
89,090: Number of calls the cable TV shopping channel QVC received between midnight and noon.
26,000: Number of Dennis Basso Faux Mink throws sold on QVC as its most popular holiday item.
8,558: Number of vehicles that passed the last Traffic.com sensor on I-76 between 9 a.m. and noon yesterday.
10,118: Number of vehicles that passed that sensor during the same time period a week earlier.
403: Number of pieces of bling sold between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. at By Hand Fine Craft Gallery, in Haddonfield.
37: Number of calendars sold between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. at Chester County Book Co. Biggest seller was Far Side off the Wall.
76: Number of Magiker media storage units sold at Ikea in South Philadelphia between 10 a.m. and noon.
42: Pounds of case candy sold between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. at Skips Candy Corner at Peddler's Village in New Hope.
2,000+: Number of entries between 6 a.m. and 3 p.m. at Cherry Hill Mall for a $6,000 shopping-spree drawing.
68: Percentage increase in company-owned same-store sales at Verizon Wireless locations in the Philadelphia region compared with last year.
Contact staff writer Madhusmita Bora at 215-854-5649 or mbora@phillynews.com.
Staff writers Akweli Parker and Lini Kadaba contributed to this article.
