At 5 a.m. on the morning after Thanksgiving, Susana Huezo grabbed for her buzzing phone.
It was her friend Jason Acosta, rousing her for a dizzying five hour shopping spree, starting at the Serramonte mall in Daly City and culminating in Union Square. The two college students joined another friend, Giovanni Garcia, to try out a ritual that had been popular for their parents’ generation, and resurged this year on TikTok.
The concept: Black Friday, born of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade and an old-fashioned desire, among retailers, to get a running start to the Christmas season. It doesn’t manifest the same way it did two decades ago, when people camped in parking lots overnight and fought each other to get into department stores. But the tradition hasn’t died yet, either. Big box retailers still open early, and viral products – like Nike’s new line of Jordans or the reflective swag bags from Target – have a more powerful pull than in years past.
In an era of e-commerce, members of Gen-Z are still hungry for real experiences. Social media has lured them back to brick-and-mortar retail, and given Black Friday a new cachet.
“This is the first year that we saw everything on TikTok,” Huezo said, standing in line at Shoe Palace on the corner of Geary and Powell streets. It was 8:45 a.m., and she and her friends had already waded through crowds at two shopping centers on the Peninsula before heading to San Francisco. They found the chaos invigorating.
“It’s nostalgic,” Acosta said.
Customers wait in line to enter Shoe Palace at San Francisco’s Union Square on Black Friday. While the crowds are smaller than past years, a contingent of Gen Z shoppers were looking to settle into some of the nostalgia of it all. (Manuel Orbegozo/For the S.F. Chronicle)
Up the block, Fayee Madrigal, 18, was waiting for Victoria’s Secret to open, hoisting a tiny backpack on her shoulders. She had driven up with her parents from Santa Cruz, and had also woken up early for Black Friday. When Madrigal emerged from her hotel room at around 8:30 a.m., she was surprised to find luxury stores in Union Square closed, as though San Francisco hadn’t gotten the memo.
“I used to go out with my mom and stand outside the stores,” Madrigal said, clutching a coffee cup as she cased the pavement on Powell Street.
Her parents, who followed behind about 20 minutes later, chuckled at their daughters’ enthusiasm.
“We remember how, ten or 15 years ago, you’d have to get up at 5 a.m.,” said Rose Madrigal, Fayee’s mother. Now, the crowds are a lot sparser, the shopping more strategic. People queuing up at Shoe Palace had ordered their Jordan 11 Gammas ahead of time, via an app. The line at Pop Mart, a store famous for Labubus and other collectible toys, didn’t form until 9:45 a.m., minutes before the doors opened.
Some people wandering through Union Square on Friday said they were disappointed by the lack of foot traffic and the late store openings, which seemed to reflect the city’s downtown malaise. Black Friday in the classic sense has largely receded, with malls shuttering and activity moving online. While TikTok has created a novelty for Gen Z and Gen Alpha, it’s not quite the same. The old days of hand-to-hand combat for big screen TVs, or aimless browsing in Macy’s, are largely gone.
Customers line up outside of Pop Mart at Union Square on Black Friday. The store’s Labubu toys have become viral hits. (Manuel Orbegozo/For the S.F. Chronicle)
“We’re still very much in recovery,” said Adam Simpson, who was walking up Geary Street with his son, James Simpson, in tow. Both of them wore custom double-breasted suits, James shuffling behind as Adam puffed on a cigar.
They had planned a rather expensive Black Friday: Wake up in the Westin St. Francis Hotel. Shop the Loro Piana collection at Neiman Marcus. Lunch in the Rotunda.
Professor Kirthi Kalyanam, executive director of the Retail Management Institute at Santa Clara University, was unsurprised by the relative emptiness of Union Square, and the transformation of Black Friday into a nostalgia-based performance, rather than a real day of marathon sales.
“Shoppable districts” have mostly died in downtown San Francisco, Kalyanam said. He’s unsurprised that flash sales and discounts have moved online, where people can “cover 20 to 30 stores in an hour, while sitting at a computer.”
Union Square may be on the cusp of better days, with fewer retail vacancies in the third quarter of this year, and the arrival of Pop Mart and other trendy shops, such as top confectioner Dandelion Chocolate.
Customers waiting to buy Pokemon cards line up inside Target at Stonestown Mall during Black Friday in San Francisco, Nov. 28, 2025. (Manuel Orbegozo/For the S.F. Chronicle)
As of now, there’s at least one place in San Francisco where Black Friday continues to thrive. Shoppers clamored to Stonestown Galleria, on the city’s west side, well before dawn. The first hundred people to arrive at Target received free swag bags from store employees, who exhausted their supply by 6 a.m.
Dozens of other shoppers stood by, having been told – either by Internet forums or word of mouth – that this particular Target would get a restock of Pokemon cards. There was no proof or guarantee, but 22-year-old Sonny Gamoras was willing to wait for hours to find out.
The San Jose State University student woke up at 3 a.m. to see a message in one of his Discord channels from someone who said there were only 30 people in line at the GameStop in Colma. He wound up spending $330 for two exclusive GameStop bundles, plus $115 on sleeved booster packs and a Prismatic figure collection, before driving to the Target in Stonestown.
Deeper in the mall, a man with a bushy white beard and a red and white costume was taking a break from a long shift granting children’s wishes. A for-hire Santa Claus, he had booked the Stonestown gig three months ago. He said much of his earnings would go toward charity work in South America.
“Go to my TikTok,” he said, whipping out his phone to display a profile with 76,400 followers. Fans could go to the page and stream short videos of a favorite Black Friday character – the bearded man with a bag of toys.
To meet the real Santa, they had to go to a shopping center.
This article originally published at Gen Z chases Black Friday nostalgia in S.F., finds a sparse downtown crowd.