POCATELLO — On a shopping day when retailers of all sizes touted oodles of too-good-to-be-true deals, known as doorbusters, the owner of Molinelli’s Jewelers went bigger than ever with his Black Friday promotion.

The jewelry store, located at 126 N. Main St., is offering a free resort vacation for two, including airfare, to customers who spend at least $2,999.

Longstanding traditions for Black Friday — the day after Thanksgiving, when retailers’ books are said to enter the black for the year — are evolving. Merchants who have traditionally opened before the crack of dawn, enticing customers with a single day of insane discounts, are now moving toward more typical business hours on Black Friday and spreading sales out over several days.

But one thing hasn’t changed, at least in the Pocatello market: While Black Friday sales haven’t been what they used to be nationally, many local retailers are still all in on the tradition.

In the case of Molinelli’s, the free U-Pick a Vacation gift is roughly equal in value to the purchase itself. The sale started on Black Friday and will last through Dec. 4.

“We thought we’d throw down. We wanted to make some noise,” said Molinelli’s owner Lance Buttars. “... I always think a gift with purchase speaks louder than a discount.”

Customers may choose from a list of destinations, including four-star resorts in places such as Puerto Vallarta and Mazatlan. Cruises are also an option. Buttars explained Molinelli’s is cutting checks for $350 made out directly to customers who partake in the offer to cover resort fees, making the trip truly free.

Buttars explained he gets an extremely good buy on the vacation packages by buying them in bulk bundles. The local jeweler has always offered its Black Friday sales over several days.

“We love the sense of urgency Black Friday brings, but our offer needs some consideration and a decision. They need time to think about it,” Buttars said.

Vern Murray, owner of Radio Shack, 506 Yellowstone Ave., used to feel pressured by the competition to open on Thanksgiving. But during the past couple of years, he’s stayed closed on Thanksgiving, and this year, he also opted against opening his doors early for Black Friday. He gave customers doughnuts and other treats for the occasion, nonetheless.

“We don’t want to compete with the big box stores. We just do our thing,” Murray said.

Radio Shack is offering especially large discounts on toys for Black Friday, including many educational toys. Murray explained he’ll keep the sale prices until the merchandise is all sold.

The greatest challenge for Murray lately has been getting his orders filled. His Black Friday merchandise arrived at the last moment, to his great relief.

“Every year you’re gong, ‘Did I get enough?’ This year it’s, ‘Am I going to get it period?’” Murray said.

Murray has been keeping much more inventory in general, understanding that he needs to buy products when they’re available because he might not be able to restock later.

“In the old days I’d have two of these — one to show and one to go,” Murray said, pulling a power cord from a shelf. “Today I have 20.”

Jesse Ellis, sales operation manager at Barrie’s Ski & Sports, 624 Yellowstone Ave., said a line of customers circling around the building formed before doors opened at 7 a.m. A top Barrie’s doorbuster was paddle boards marked down from more than $1,000 to $399. They also had used skis starting at $49, with bindings, and significantly discounted apparel.

Ellis said his store ordered all of the winter gear in January and bulked up on its usual order, based on product shortages the store had experienced with bikes and bike parts.

“The only hiccup is going to be reordering and filling in the holes in inventory,” Ellis said.

Labor has also been in high demand lately. Barrie’s hired about half a dozen people who worked only on Black Friday, sizing boots, passing out flyers and bagging merchandise. Barrie’s opened four extra cash registers to handle the higher Black Friday customer volume.

Collin and Amanda Miller and their 3-year-old son Aiden got a late start on Black Friday shopping on Friday, planning to visit at least four local retailers. Amanda was usually out shopping long before sunrise during past Black Fridays.

“I used to get up at 4 a.m. and get in line for two hours to get in somewhere,” she said. “I think the main problem is most people shop online and they don’t feel the need to get up early anymore.”

Collin Miller agreed, “There’s a lot more online shopping.”

Jason Miller, vice president of Cal Ranch, which has a location in Chubbuck’s Pine Ridge Mall, had heard the speculation that Black Friday sales would be down due to early sales, delays in shipping and limited inventory. Instead, he saw strong evidence that Southeast Idaho shoppers are eager to return to brick-an-mortar stores this season.

“We anticipate a good sales day,” said Miller, adding even Cal Ranch had some early sales, though they weren’t called Black Friday sales.

Nationally, malls and stores have reported decent-sized crowds, if not the floods of people that used to fight over the latest toys and electronics. Online shopping is much too common for that now, and discounts have been both more subdued and spread out over the weeks leading up to Christmas, on both websites and in stores.

Out-of-stock items due to supply crunches, higher prices for gas and food, and labor shortages that make it more difficult to respond to customers have also caused frustrations for shoppers.

The country’s largest mall, the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, said nearly 100,000 people had come as of early afternoon Friday, more than double last year but a bit shy of 2019 numbers.

“We had a fantastic start,” said Mall of America senior vice president Jill Renslow.

The staffing issues that have hit many retailers and restaurants, however, also affected the mall. It had to trim the hours it was open.

Overall holiday sales are expected to grow this year. The National Retail Federation predicts a sales increase of 8.5% to 10.5% for all of November and December, after 8% growth in those months in 2020.

The pandemic led many retailers to close stores on Thanksgiving Day and push discounts on their websites, starting as early as October. That’s continuing this year, although there are deals in stores as well. Inflation is another issue this holiday shopping season.

Shoppers are expected to pay on average between 5% to 17% more for toys, clothing, appliances, TVs and others purchases on Black Friday this year compared with last year, according to Aurelien Duthoit, senior sector advisor at Allianz Research, with the biggest price increases on TVs. That’s because whatever discounts available will be applied to goods that already cost more.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.