Christmas shopping is in full swing after a long day of Black Friday sales. Many locals were out shopping Friday afternoon looking for the best deals on electronics and toys.

Most people said the Black Friday shopping nostalgia is gone as more customers turn to online shopping and early doorbusters are becoming more popular.“I miss the thrill of everyone packed and shopping,” said Barbara Zayac of Jim Thorpe, who was shopping with her three children on Friday. “It’s just something about the feeling. It kicks off the season for me now.”Zayac is a yearly shopper and loves the great deals she can get for Christmas presents.Other shoppers disagree and think that the lull in Black Friday shopping is probably for the best.Helen Shveima from New Jersey and her sister Anna Marie Mulan of Palmerton enjoyed the emptier stores.“I’m enjoying myself because it’s not packed with people,” Shviema said.This is the first year Shviema and Mulan braved the busiest shopping day of the year. The deals are what drew them in this year. Online shopping is usually their go-to method to get gifts.Patrice Bjorkman and her family are die-hard shoppers.“We got up before 5 a.m. and were on the road for 5:30,” said Bjorkman, of Lehighton.Her family took on a new Black Friday shopper, Mikayla Marks, who was shocked at the great deals she got on gifts.The best deals are on electronics and toys, according to Bjorkman.Nationally, Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which started its Black Friday sales in stores on Thursday at 6 p.m., says shoppers were embracing different types of tech products.Steve Bratspies, who is chief merchandising officer at Wal-Mart’s U.S. division, says in addition to picking up Black Friday favorites like televisions and toys, shoppers were looking for drones, virtual reality products and hoverboards.The company started its online sale at 12:01 a.m. Thursday and noted that more than 70 percent of traffic to Walmart.com during the Thursday event came from mobile devices.Julie Singewald’s Black Friday started at 4 a.m. at a Twin Cities outlet mall. By 6 a.m., she and her two teenagers made it to the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota. Singewald said she was merely the vehicle — “and sometimes the credit card” — as her daughters worked on their shopping lists.Increasingly, the 44-year-old is doing more of her shopping online.“I’m a point-and-click person,” she said. “If it were up to me, I would be in my pajamas and on my computer at home.”Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, used to launch the holiday season, but the competition to grab customers first is keen. Stores like Macy’s, Walmart, Target and more were open Thursday evening in what they hope will be a new holiday tradition as they try to fight off competition from online juggernaut Amazon.Retailers have also been spreading deals out more throughout the week.“It was a really good start. But I have never seen Black Friday morning so calm,” said Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst at NPD Group, a market research firm, who visited malls on Long Island on Friday. He believes the weekend’s sales will likely rise from last year because shoppers did lots of buying, including pricey flat-screen TVs.This weekend is crucial to set the tone for the holiday season. Around 137 million people plan to or are considering doing their shopping during the Thanksgiving weekend, according to a survey conducted for the National Retail Federation. That includes online and store shopping.The NRF, the nation’s largest retail group, expects holiday sales to rise 3.6 percent for November and December, better than the 3 percent growth seen for those months last year. That excludes car sales, gas and restaurant receipts. But it includes online spending and other non-store sales such as catalog spending.Black Friday shopping is a tradition that won’t die easily. The deals and savings always draw big crowds to stores.Many stores are only offering several deals in-store, as well.This tactic will keep shoppers flooding their aisles for years to come.The Associated Press contributed to this story.