GONZALES - In-person holiday shopping is back, which means parking lots are full, check-out lines are long, and families are spending Black Friday together.

Many shoppers came to the capital area from all over the state to see loved ones and get the best deals.

Even with bags in hand and no masks in sight, the holiday does not look quite like it used to.

"We would wait here for hours. It used to be Thanksgiving night, so they changed it," one shopper said.

Doorbuster deals interfering with Thanksgiving day is a thing of the past, at least for the Tanger Outlets in Gonzales.

Store managers said this is the most successful Black Friday they have seen in years.

"The Tanger Mall has done great as far as getting everybody back in the holiday spirit, so it's really trickled down for us. I think we're back to that 'normalcy that we've all kind of been looking for," Angela LaFleur, manager of Tanger Outlets in Gonzales, said.

"It is absolutely a success, and they had already predicted that this would be a great shopping season, and it absolutely is," LaFleur said.

Following the Black Friday festivities, the outlet mall will host food trucks and light its very own Christmas tree over the holiday weekend.