It was hampered by a lack of foreign tourists opening their pockets and another wave coronavirus cases that plagued major U.S. towns.

Preliminary data from Sensormatic Solutions shows that Saturday’s retail sales dropped by 26.3% compared to Saturday before Christmas 2019, according to Sensormatic Solutions. Johnson Controls. Sensormatic stated that the retail traffic rose by 19.4% over the previous year.

Super Saturday will be known as the busiest holiday shopping day. behind Black FridaySensormatic.

Covid-19 testing locations were packed in many cities this weekend. Customers had to leave their houses to purchase last-minute Christmas gifts, decorations for holidays and the ingredients they needed to make homemade meals. People braved the pandemic and went to the movies to see “Spider-Man: The Way Home”. had a blowout weekend haul.

Sensormatic’s senior retail consultant Peter McCall stated that the Americans have demonstrated their determination to not allow this obstacle in their path of returning to normal as soon as they can. Super Saturday is an excellent example.

Some signs indicated that consumers are more careful about what they buy. McCall explained that outlet malls and open-air shops have gained popularity among American shoppers since Black Friday.

McCall explained that although McCall could not tell you if it was omicron-related but that we were seeing a similar preference to one year ago.

Experts said people visit outdoor and enclosed outlet malls in less-populated areas of the country to shop on weekends. Craig Johnson of CGP Retail Consulting, is the founder of Super Saturday. He called it “a tale about three cities”.

Major metropolitan areas, such as New York City, Chicago, San Francisco and San Francisco saw a decrease in store traffic. This was due to an almost absence of tourists from abroad and increased concerns about the contagious Johnson aid variant.

New York State has reported three consecutive days of record new Covid cases. New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio declared 5,731 more cases Sunday. This is compared to the average of 1,000 cases per day for New York in November. The increase has been attributed to a number of Broadway showsBeing called off in the final minute as cast members test positive.

But in smaller U.S. cities and more suburban areas, visits to shopping centers improved over the weekend — even amid inclement weather in some regions, Johnson said.

He said that “for areas where there was rain Saturday, traditional indoor malls were packed and online sales were strong.” On Sunday, when the rain stopped, outlets malls were jammed.”

Johnson observed that stock was often out of some holiday decorations, including women’s shoes, popular toys and ladies shoes. Sony’sHighly sought-after PlayStation 5 console. Supply chain problems could have caused some customers to look elsewhere for gifts or return empty handed.

A leading trade association in the industry, The National Retail Federation has projected that retail sales over the holiday season could increase by as much as 11.5% year over yearThat excludes expenditure at automotive dealers, gas stations, and restaurants. This would be a record-breaking year for growth.